What does 'Olo' mean ?

I've been looking at the term 'Olo' to find out what it means. It certainly has no connection with 'rockerless' 'finless' 'thick'  'narrow' or 'solid' as some people suppose when claiming that the word should not be used for surfboards with fins and rocker, but only for copies of the Hawaiian slab olo board found in the Bishop Museum.



  'Olo' is  an onomatapaeic  term derived from the rhythmic sound and action of sawing, this led to derivative  meanings i.e. a long resounding noise or long surfboard.



So the term has come to refer to long surfboards due to the sound made when sawing, scraping, or rubbing them during construction, which in the case of a very large surfboards is louder, longer, and more resonant than is usual.



Thus I think that any long wooden surfboard can lay claim to the word. I saw and sand my long wooden boards out by hand and they have great resonance. . . so much so that I wear earmuffs when using handtools on them. Hollow paulownia boards have excellent resonance.



Now I know what to chant to myself during the many hours of hand sawing, hand scraping and hand sanding when making Olo boards . . . .  Olo, olo, olo,olo,olo,olo. . . .. .. . 

Olo also means 'hill' so it's possible that there's also a connection to liquid hills. . .



Claiming that Olo can only refer to the ancient type, is in my opinion incorrect as a matter of fact due to the etymology of the word.



http://books.google.com/books?id=NJHPMufp6cMC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=olo+meaning++dictionary+hawaiian&source=bl&ots=pSnJxAYAD-&sig=xNLVQ26-6mD6IWRYeEPZUyppE48&hl=en&ei=rSNnTKHvOo3msQPe1ei4DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false



http://olosurfer-woodensurfboardsatpipeline.blogspot.com/2010/08/olo-paipo-alaia-duke-whats-in-name.html