The English word taboo derives from this later meaning and dates from Captain James Cook's visit to Tonga in 1777.
The root also exists outside Polynesian languages, in the broader Austronesian family: e.g. Fijian tabu,[5] Hiw (Vanuatu) toq [tɔkʷ] ‘holy, sacred’, Mwotlap ne-teq [nɛ-tɛk͡pʷ] ‘cemetery’…[6][7] Whether Polynesian or not, all modern forms go back to a Proto-Oceanic etymon reconstructed as *tabu [taᵐbu], and whose meaning was “forbidden, off limits; sacred, due to a sentiment of awe before spiritual forces”.
In at least one case, a chief declared a whole settlement - Auckland, a newly founded European settler town - as tapu, to clarify to other tribes that he considered it as under his protection.
Whales are regarded as spiritual treasures as being descendants of the ocean god, Tangaroa, and are as such held in very high respect.
A new house today, for example, may have a noa ceremony to remove the tapu, in order to make the home safe before the family moves in.