Kahuna
|
Originally, Kahuna was the Hawaiian title for a shaman, and the term is still used in that context by some native Hawaiians. (see ancient Hawai'i) One of the Kahunas of the then king of Hawai'i (Alapa'i) predicted that a fiery light in the sky would signal the birth of the "killer of chiefs", or ali'i ie: Kamehameha I, the first king of all the Hawaiian Islands .
In beach movies of the 1960s (et seq.) such as Beach Blanket Bingo, the "Big Kahuna" was the best surfer on the beach. This term later made its way from Hollywood into general surfing culture. (See also "The Big Kahuna".)
In some computer programming shops (for example, IBM), "Kahuna" is a synonym for "wizard" or "guru" (see internet slang).