James Cook’s Expedition to Easter Island, 1774: Some Linguistic Reflections on a Visit of a Rapanui Aboard the English Ship

In this present paper I would like to expound and explain an event that took place during the visit of Captain James Cook to Easter Island (1774), and was described, among others, by the Forsters – the naturalists belonging to his crew (strictly speaking, they were supernumeraries). It was the scene of the first encounter between an indigenous Rapanui and the explorers aboard the “Resolution”. To my mind, the presentation of the episode, offered by George Forster, constitutes an example of misunderstanding or misinterpretation of what really had happened. To the best of my knowledge, this mistake has not previously been discovered by researchers specializing in the early exploration of Easter Island.