Commentary by Fred on the Hawaiian word haole.
It is a commonly repeated myth or fable that the word haole is derived from the two words hā (breath) and ‘ole (without), but I believe this to be a factoid. A factoid being unsubstantiated rank speculation or a falsehood that is repeated over and over again as though it were true, that it becomes commonly accepted as fact, although it is not. I find it interesting and ironic that the word factoid has itself become a factoid, because of the repeated misuse of the word factiod as being a fact, a piece of trivia or a small bit of information.

I regard the "without breath" legend as being a folk etymology or false etymology. It makes for a good story and that may be the reason it is so often repeated, but I consider it more of an urban legend. I really don't care one way or the other, I just want to know the truth and so far I have not seen any compelling evidence to support the idea that the three syllable, two word term hā ‘ole somehow morphed and contracted into the two syllable, single word term haole stripped of the ‘okina and kahakō. On this issue I am a contrarian, I do not believe the "without breath" story.

If anyone out there in the World Wide Web has any reliable information on this issue that either confirms or contradicts my thinking, please contact me, I would love to hear what you have to say.

Below: An image of page 213 from The Voices of Eden: A History of Hawaiian Language Studies by Albert J. Schütz.

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