So we know that Nui means “great” in the Matoran language, meaning things like Metru Nui and Rahi Nui translate into “Great City” and “Great Beast” However, using this logic, Mata Nui must translate into “Great Spirit” meaning that Mata means “Spirit.” This means that the Toa Mata are the Toa Spirit. Which means the team name (Toa Mata) is actually canon since in Mask of Light, Tahu is referred to as “Spirit of Fire”
What secrets have you discovered in the Matoran Language?
My headcanon for the whole thing about “Spirit of Fire” and “Spirit of Water” thing is that the Mata were never Matoran, meaning they were created specifically for protecting the Matoran and awakening Mata Nui, meaning their destinies were much more specific then other Toa. Their “spirits” are purely set on their goals of doing those things, so yeah. 
Exactly
@ToaVuhii
@Matoro
IDK if this is correct, but my sibling said that the Toa Mata were drawn from the elements themselves (I can’t remember because it’s been so long since I read the book that had Helryx telling Takanuva about everything); at the very least, they were created by the OoMN.
The Order trained them, but Artahka created them.
There is this guy on Tumblr called “outofgloom” and he specializes with the Matoran language, even translating famous BIONICLE quotes into the language he had found for them.
Toa Mata is canon anyway, in Bionicle Legends Prisoners of the Pit, Farshtey says:
“At one time these six Toa were known as Toa Mata, named for the Great Spirit Mata Nui…”
That is utterly amazing. @.@
That…Just blew my mind.
Wow.
My whole take on this is that the Toa Mata are named after the elements themselves, which is why the prefix for fire is Ta, for water is Ga, and so on. By this theory, Tahu Mata would literally mean Spirit of Fire, Gali Mata would literally mean Spirit of Water, and so on.
My commentary on treespeak:
In the origional story the Le matoran spoke tree speak, but Lewa did not. In MNOG Kongu first introduces his unusual speach patterns, and it soon becomes clear it is a cultural custom.
But in the comics, Lewa has no such habits. It was not until 2003 with The Mask of Light that they decided Lewa should share in these strange elecutional patterns. Why is this?
Well, this is my theory: We know that treespeak was originally chutespeak, specific to the chute workers of Metru Nui. The Le metruan became very integrated with this way of speaking and brought it to Mata Nui, despite the loss of their memeories. There they continued to share the happy-song language of their heritage.
Lewa, however, was not native to Le Metru. He is native to the dignified island of Artahka. He learned to speak with all the other Toa Mata, and would have developed the same manner of speach.
But you all know Lewa. He’s fickle. More than that, Lewa is full of a happy-love friendliness. Although Lewa did not speak the chutespeak native to Metru Nui, he quickly adopted their fun-speak after developing a relationship with them as his people.
Now I know all post '03 media says “Lewa always spoke treespeak”. It is true, there are books that attempt rewrite history. But this is just my theory.
It’s been stated that only the Metru Nui matoran used chutespeak, This is all already canon
That amazing!
what would be the matoran word or words be for merchant, trader, or dealer. Some one who would be like a shop keeper. I’ve looked through the matoran diconary by “Tolkien” but can’t seem to find one.
Honestly, if Tolkien hasn’t come up with a word for it, it likely doesn’t exist. At least not on earth .=P
And Toa means “Hero” and “heroes”. So you could say it means Spirit Heroes 
Oh, and like someone mentioned above, Outofgloom/Tolkien’s Matoran language is utterly amazing. Guy’s got a P.Hd in Linguistics even!
They were never matoran. The Toa Mata were created by Artakha.
thanks for responding to a post I made literal years ago
as if I made it yesterday.
Okay. Just a second here. I’ve only been on the boards for about two weeks.
By the way, I was wrong. Outofgloom/Tolkien doesn’t have a PhD yet, but he is working on it. Actually I think he might just have gotten it. Doesn’t PhD programmes usually last till the summer vacation? Like, till school is over?