Etymology
The island received its European name from Captain Cook because it acts as a barrier between the Pacific Ocean and the Hauraki Gulf. The Māori name is Aotea.
Entrance to the Hauraki Gulf is via two channels, one on either side of the island. Colville Channel separates the island's southernmost point (Cape Barrier) from Cape Colville at the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula to the south, and Cradock Channel separates the island from the smaller Little Barrier Island to the west. The island protects the 'Gulf' from the ocean surface waves and the currents of the South Pacific Gyre. Note that despite its name, Great Barrier Island not a sandbar barrier which is often defined as the correct use of the term.
Read more about this topic: Great Barrier Island
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
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—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)