The sky darkens. There is a heaviness in the air. It feels damp. The clouds are massing. Then the rumbling of thunder starts and it begins to rain, and lightning flashes. Then a deafening clash of thunder overhead. It is in the Australian south-west, and the people there had a word for it:
“koon-dur-nan-gur” gundur nanGur = “thunder or rend the clouds, to” thunder: [4 (b)] Grey [: 415:33] [Minang]
In fact they had two words, ‘gundur‘ and ‘nanGur‘, as recorded by Grey. Scott Nind, ten years earlier, made a fairly similar record:
“condernore” gundir nur = “thunder” thunder: [2] Nind 1831 [: 415:4] [NYUNGAR]
What exactly did the words mean? Consider:
“koondurt” gundur[a]d = “cloud” cloud: [3 (a)] Lyon [:237:36] [Minang]
“koon-durt” gundur[a]d = “cloud, a” cloud: [4 (b)] Grey [:237:44] [Minang]
“Kundart” gunda[a]d = “(K.G.S.) A cloud.” cloud: Moore 1842 [:62:14] [Minang]
From these records it may be taken that ‘gunda‘, perhaps with the suffix ‘-ad‘, meant ‘cloud’. So what about ‘nanGur‘?
“nan-gur” nanGur = “bite, to; to tear; to eat” tear: [4 (b)] Grey [:217:10] [Minang]
“nungoor” nangur = “ant, small” ant: [3] Lyon 1833 [:203:5] [NYUNGAR]
Grey claimed ‘nanGur‘ meant ‘bite’, ‘tear’ …, while when Lyon encountered the term he recorded ‘ant’. Lyon might have been right; on the other hand, one thing ants are noted for is ‘biting’, and given the use made of the word in relation to ‘thunder’, ‘bite’ seems a fair probability. There is a wide range of other words for ‘ant’, probably identifying different species of them.
“{konder, mulgar}” gundir = “{thunder}” thunder: [10 (k)] Curr [: 415:7.1] [Kaniyang]
“kondor” gundur = “thunder” thunder: [10 (s)] Curr [: 415:8] [Minang]
Another Curr record, apparently totally unrelated, is puzzling:
“goonda” gunda = “milk” milk: [10 (n)] Curr [:322:38] [Kaniyang]
Edney Hassell, howver, provided support for it (‘bibi‘ is ‘breast’):
“beeber coonder [[sic]]” bibir gundir = “milk” milk: [24] Hassell, Edney [:322:36] [NYUNGAR]
“tdon-dail” dunda[a]l = “fair; white; light-coloured” white: [4] Grey 1840 [:160:22] [NYUNGAR]
“Djundal” dyundal = “White.” white: Moore 1842 [:31:20] [NYUNGAR]
“dyoondal” dyundal = “white, fair hair” white: [3] Lyon 1833 [: 438:47] [NYUNGAR]
The consonant sounds ‘g’ and ‘j’ seem often to be mixed, or interchanged, and this might have been occurring here. There is also the suffix ‘-al‘ attached.
The next two examples appear to be quite similar, both beginning with a simple ‘d’, and the first also omitting the ‘n’—perhaps a recording or transcription error.
“tdo-dail” duda[a]l = “fair” white: [6] Brady 1845 [:265:23] [NYUNGAR]
“Tdun-dal” dunda[a]l = “(Northern dialect.) Fair; white; lightcoloured.” white: Moore 1842 [:96:7] [NYUNGAR]
Another pair of words closely similar to one another may have shaded the meaning of ‘whiteness’ somehow:
“tdoon-dil-yer” dundilyir = “fair; white; light-coloured” white: [4 (b)] Grey [:160:25] [NYUNGAR]
“torndiller” durndilir = “whites” white: [2] Nind 1831 [: 440:10] [NYUNGAR]
The final pair have a consonantal sequence of d-n-g:
“dongar” dunga = “thunder” thunder: [10 (j)] Curr [: 415:6] [Pinjarup]
“dornda” durnda = “light coloured” white: [12 (v) (aa) (bb)] Bates [:311:14] [NYUNGAR]
Some scholars have commented on a feature of the Nyungar group of languages, namely consonantal inversion, or ‘metathesis’. Given that the sequence in the opening example above (for ‘gundur‘) is g-n-d, perhaps this is at play here, strengthening the linking of the first and final forms of ‘white’ cited.