Te Harinui

With the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first white settlers, and the first proclamation of the Christian Gospel in New Zealand, Willow Macky's Te Harinui is a shoe-in for the Christmas service Bev and I are leading next Sunday at Paihia.  

I am not a pedant about pronunciation but I will once more try to encourage the congregation to sing the hymn title correctly. Many people, without thinking, sing Te Haranui... So what's the difference, I wondered just now. Does it really matter?

A quick look at a Maori dictionary suggests that it does matter:  As a noun, Haranui would be "the great  sin, foul, crime, offence, transgression, wrongdoing, gaffe, infringement, fault, problem", etc.  Not quite in the spirit of,  "Behold I bring glad tidings of great joy"

Yes, I will once more remind people that we sing Te Harinui, The Great Joy...