Category Archives: NSW Southwards

South-coast words: Merimbula

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A personal diary entry from January 1984 has the record: “Later we all set off by car headed for Twofold Bay150 km away approx. Did this via Bermagui and Merimbula.” Two placenames of interest are mentioned. What might they mean? As usual, McCarthy and Tyrell have something to say:
Bermagui:
“Bermagui” barmaguwi = “Resembling a canoe with paddles” canoe— : McCarthy [:6:3] []
Merimbula:
“Merimbula” mirimbula = “Big snake; place of two waters or lakes” waterhole two— : McCarthy [:13:31] []
“Merimbula” mirimbula = “Two waters, or divided lake” waterhole two— : Tyrrell [:29:14] []
But are McCarthy and Tyrell right?
Bermagui
This could be respelt:
—birma-guwi
—ba(r)ma-guwi
—bu(r)ma-guwi
birma
The ‘SOUTH’ database in the BYALA database series gave no responses for ‘birma’
ba(r)ma / bu(r)ma
There were some responses to the bama (and variants) search, as follows:
“Barmagagang”
bamaga-gang =
“log”
log  :
Mathews 8006/3/5 -5 [:177:13.1] [Dwl]
“[yugundu barmaiadha barmagangga-ba dhurragangga]”
bama-ya-da =
“[he stepped [slippt?] on / a log / [stream-in] ]”
step did he:
Mathews 8006/3/6- Nbk 4 [DWL] [:25:11.1] [Dwl]
“[yugundu barmaiadha barmagangga-ba dhurragangga]”
bamagang-Ga =
“[he stepped [slippt?] on / a log / [stream-in]]”
log on :
Mathews 8006/3/6- Nbk 4 [DWL] [:25:11.2] [Dwl]
“Barmagamburnang”
bamagamburnang =
“a big log”
log big  :
Mathews 8006/3/5 -5 [:177:13.1] [Dwl]
“bummat”
bamad =
“Knee”
knee  :
Mathews NRGU 1908 [:337:30] [Nrgu]
“[Boomaningga gunna]”
buma-ni-ngGa =
“[I’m going up the hill — I going up / hill]”
ascend will I:
Mathews 8006/3/7- No 7 [:26:19.21] [Gga]
“Boomurra”
bumara =
“wind, very strong, from any quarter”
wind  wind, high:
Mathews 8006/3/7/ – CRITERION [:73:4] [Dwl]
“[Boomaningga gunna]”
buma-ni-ngGa =
“[I’m going up the hill — I going up / hill]”
ascend will I:
Mathews 8006/3/7- No 7 [:26:19.21] [Gga]
“Boomaningga”
buma-ni-ngGa =
“up I will go; “
ascend will I:
Mathews GGA PAPS [:147:14.11] [Gga]
This database, which consists of around 12 500 records, gives little real assistance. bama or its variants, and excluding verbs (which seem unlikely for the name of a place) might mean ‘log’, ‘knee’ or ‘wind’. And there were almost no instances of the suffix ‘-guwi’. So bamaguwi remains a mystery.
Merimbula
This could be respelt: 
—mirim-bula
—miri-mbula
—marim-bula
—mari-mbula
It is common in indigenous languages of the region for prenasalisation of /n/ and /b/ to occur, to produce /nd/ and /mb/. This might or might not be happening in mirimbula.
The only responses for mirim were:
“mírrimbi-dyá”
mirimbidya =
“conduct contrary to tribal law”
  :
Mathews GGA Myth [:35:19] [Gga]
“Mirrimbidya”
mirimbidya =
“is when a woman holds a rug [?] over a man. The pirrimbir cannot spear him”
  :
Mathews 8006/3/7/ – CRITERION [:49:1.2] [[Dwl/Gga ?]]
“mirrimbâlang”
mirimbalang =
“[NO ENTRY] or”
himself  :
Mathews 8006/3/5 -5 [:133:1.1] [Gga]
“mittimbâlang”
midimbalang =
“[NO ENTRY]”
SELF  him:
Mathews 8006/3/5 -5 [:133:1.2] [Gga]
This was of very little use. 
There was nothing for either mari or marim.
Hoswever, for miri, there was a rich trove. The following are just a few examples:
“Mirri”
miri =
“a dog”
dog  :
Mathews NGWL [:295:6.1] [Gga/Ngwl]
“Mirridya”
miri-dya =
“My dog (dog my)”
dog  me-of:
Mathews NGWL [:295:27.1] [Gga/Ngwl]
“Mirridyi”
miri-dyi =
“Thy dog”
dog  thee-of:
Mathews NGWL [:295:28.1] [Gga/Ngwl]
“Mirribuladya”
miri-bula-dya =
“dogs both mine”
dog two  me-of:
Mathews NGWL [:295:32.1] [Gga/Ngwl]
“mirridyimmadya”
miri-dyima-dya =
“dogs several mine”
dog plenty  me-of:
Mathews NGWL [:295:32.2] [Gga/Ngwl]
“mirrigang”
miri-gang =
“Dog”
dog  :
Mathews NRGU 1908 [:338:24] [Nrgu]
This is a very ‘doggish’ response. But what of bula?
This was an even richer lode, or which the following are three instances:
“Bulla”
bula =
“Gundungurra: 2”
two  :
Mathews 8006/3/7- No 7 [:36:14] [Gga]
“Pulla”
bula =
“two “
two  :
SofM 1897 04 30 [p.106.5: Wollondilly R.] [:107:9] [Gga]
“bular”
bula =
“two”
two  :
KAOL Ridley [WODI] [:113:27] [Wodi]
In fact bula is found practically across the Australian mainland as meaning ‘two’.
Conclusion
The Geographcal Names Board website gives the following information about meanings:
 
Bermagui: Aboriginal: canoe or better, canoe with paddles. On an early plan appears as Permageua. (Reed 1967)
 
Merimbula: Aboriginal. Also: from ‘Merimboola’ for ‘big snake’ or ‘place of two waters or lakes’. (McCarthy; 1963). Endacott (1955) says Merrimbula means Two waterholes.
The SOUTH database did not come up with any likely matches for either ‘canoe’ or ‘paddle’ for Bermagui.
But it would seem from information on the SOUTH database quite likely that Merimbula might mean ‘two dogs’.

DHARAWAL Words: Tackling the “unijerunbi minku ?” puzzle

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On page 101 of Kamilaroi and Other Languages (KAOL) the following occurs in a list of 21 words or expressions:

 

The sixth from the bottom is:

 

What do you want ? unijerunbi minku ?
 
In attempting to analyse this, especially as the sentence is a question, it is tempting to consider that “minku” is related to common interrogatives beginning ‘mi-’
“Min´gang” minGang = “What” what: Mathews 8006/3/5 -5 [:162:1.2] [Dwl]
“Minyanniba” minyani ba = “what for?” why: Mathews GGA 1901 [:153:13.2] [Gga]
“Min” min = “Why, what for” why: Dawes (b) [b:13:19.1] [BB]
“Minyin” minyin = “Why, what for” why: Dawes (b) [b:13:19.2] [BB]
 
The next step is to determine what “unijerunbi” might be.
 
The suffix ‘-bi’ is a common second-person singular Dharawal subject ‘bound’ pronoun (2sgNOM), meaning ‘you’, but which in the databases is rendered ‘thou’ to distinguish it from you-two (2du) and ‘you-all’ (2pl). A bound pronoun is one taking the form of a suffix. There are also freestanding pronouns.
 
This leaves “unijerun”—which might possibly be trimmed to “unijeru”, in view of the deleted ‘-n-’ being assumed to have attached to ‘-bi’ to form ‘-nbi’ in a process in some languages affecting the consonants ‘b’ and ‘d’, known as prenasalisation. William Dawes had first noted a form of this as it was a phenomenon not present in the harbourside language of Sydney but did occur in the dialect around Parramatta and beyond. Here is his record made on 14 April 1791:
 
The above extract from Dawes’s Notebook (b) comes from the SOAS internet address cited. The Burubirangal were an ‘inland’ or ‘woods’ clan of the Sydney language group, while the ‘Coasters’ were the people around the harbour. What Dawes was mainly recording in his brief comparative list was not so much the insertion of ‘n’ but the dropping of ‘d’ by the ‘coasters’, in the in all but the fourth and fifth entries.
 
But to return to the translation conundrum. The next thought is to consider that, in this area of the Australian east coast at least, words do not generally (and possibly never), start with a vowel. So the “unijerunbi” record almost certainly omitted the preceding consonant. This would be because the European recorder either:
—did not detect it;
—or did not know of a suitable means of rendering it with the alphabet of English, and so simply omitted it.
The missing consonant in such not uncommon examples is one of ‘y-’, ‘w-’ or ‘ng-’.
 
On respelling the record following the conventions adopted throughout the Bayala databases bayaladatabases.blogspot.com mentioned in these blog entries, the possibilities for the word emerge as:
wani-driya-nbi
yani-driya-nbi
ngani-driya-nbi
 
Various searches in the databases were then carried out based on these respelt forms with a view to coming upon something to match the given translation of ‘What do you want ?’ However, the results were disappointing.
 
But one line of enquiry did emerge. It so happens that much of the relevant parts of Ridley’s KAOL were also published in a journal article ‘Australian Languages and Traditions’ (AL&T). And in that article, for the record concerned, there are two differences:
What do you want ? unijerunbi minku ?
has become:
What do you want, mistress ? unijerunbi munku ?
 
1. “minku” has become “munku”
2. “ mistress” has been added to the translation.
 
Whether or not these variations are correct new features is almost impossible to assert with confidence, but through the SOUTH database they do open up interpretation possibilities that are consistent with the given AL&T translation. These are now outlined, together with the database supporting information.
 
First, assume now there are now THREE components to the translation, not two:
—what (i.e. some interrogative)
—you want
—mistress
 
This gives rise to the idea that the first word might be ‘ngani’. (See the third respelling option above.) And ‘ngani’ or similar is a form commonly associated with ‘who’, or with interrogatives generally:
“nunnagawu” nganagawu = “who are you (two)?” who—you-two: Mathews GGA 1901 amend [:153:11.204] [Gga]
“[Ngun´-nin-gâ thin-bâ´-lee-min?]” nganinGa = “[who is eating?]” who: M&E: GGA 1900 [:271:3.2] [GGA]
“[Ngun´-nin-gâ ngoo´-rij-jee-bâ mung´-â-rin´-jee-bâ nin gan-bee ?]” nganinGa = “[whom-from gottest-thou that wood ?]” who: M&E: GGA 1900 [:271:7.2] [GGA]
 
And from the Sydney Language (BB):
“[Ngan widá-lyi teara wü´ra würá]” ngan = “[Who was that drinking tea with you?]” who: Dawes (b) [b:15:2.1] [BB]
“Mi ngâ´ni” mi ngani = “Why, what for” why what for: Dawes (b) [b:13:17] [BB]
“[Mingáni1 bottle2]” mi ngani = “[What is in the1 bottle2]” what: Dawes (b) [b:13:22.1] [BB]
 
Assume ‘ngani’ is the interrogative part of the sentence. Could ‘dyira’ be ‘want’? And could ‘minGu/munGu’ be ‘mistress’? Well, apparently, quite possibly—yes. ‘dyira’ can be (among other things) ‘speak’, and ‘minGu/munGu’ can be ‘mother’ (similar to mistress).
 
dyira: speak
“dyirra” dyira = “to tell” speak: Mathews 8006/3/7/ – CRITERION [:20:1.3] [Dwl]
“[Jerra Thurawaldhery. ]” dyira = “[A Thurawal Story.]” speak: KAOL Ridley [DWL story] [:145:12.1] [Twl]
“jerra” dyira = “messenger” speak—messenger: M&E: GGA 1900 [:276:29] [GGA]
 
minGa / manGa: mother
“Meeng´-a” minga = “Mother” mother: Mathews DGA 1901 [:67.1:13] [DGA]
“miŋa” minga = “mother “ mother: KAOL Ridley [TWOFOLD] [:115:13] [Dhurga]
“[unijerunbi munku ?]” manGu = “[what do you want, mistress ? [[sic]]]” mother: AL&T (Ridley) Mrs Malone [DWL] [:263:26.3] [Twl]
“[unijerunbi minku ?]” minGu = “[What do you want ? [[sic]]]” mother: KAOL (Ridley) Mrs Malone [TWL] [:101:16.4] [Twl]
 
For the translation “ what do you want, mistress ?” to be regarded as correct, it is necessary to accept that ‘want’ could be rendered as ‘speak’, and ‘mistress’ as mother. A reformatting of the translation could therefore be ‘what speak-thou mother?’, and thus rendered the provided translation seems plausible.
unijerunbi munku ?
ngani-driya-nbi manGu
what speak-thou mother?
what do you want, mistress ?

DHARAWAL Words: mosquito

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The Rev. William Ridley (1819-1878) wrote an article, ‘Australian languages and traditions’ [AL&T], publishhed in the February 1878 issue of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

 

On p. 263 he reproduced some words and phrases provided by “ Lizzie, a half-caste, whose mother was a Shoalhaven aboriginal, and who is now the wife of John Malone’. He had already provided a listing of “specimens of the language of the extinct Sydney Tribe (from John Malone, a half-caste, whose mother was of that tribe)”.

 

One interesting entry was the following:

clawa, ye, ye chobuŋ run, come here, quick

 

The first challenge is to work out which word of the language entry relates to which of the English translation. What, in fact, is the word for ‘run’, what for ‘come here’ and what for ‘quick’.

 

The first part of the puzzle was partly clarified by comparing the entry with another published version of the same article. It appeared in RIDLEY, William, Kamilaroi and other Australian Languages. [KAOL] (Sydney, Thomas Richards, Government Printer, 1875), on page 101. There the entry was presented as:

chawa ! ye ye chobuŋ ! Run! Come here quick !

 

The first word was misprinted in one or the other publication—but which?

 

The SOUTH database, featuring languages on the NSW coast to the south of Sydney, provided the solution:

“jowa” dyawa = “run” run: KAOL Ridley [WODI] [:114:8] [Wodi]

“jauara” dyawara = “Run” run: Mathews KML/Dwl [:279.3:17] [Dwl]

“Jaulai yuin ngaiagandi” dyawalayi yuwin ngayagandiyi = “the man is running towards me” running man me towards: Mathews 8006/3/6- Nbk 3 [DWL] [:45:18] [Dwl]

 

From these several records it appears that the stem ‘dyawa’ is ‘run’, and that consequently the AL&T record had the misprint . . . so : “chawa”, not “clawa”.

 

‘yi, yi’ can be taken to be an exlamation.

 

So what is “chobuŋ” (dyabang)? Could it be ‘quick’?

 

The databases provide a surprising, though logical, answer.:

 

“Doó-ping” dubing = “a mosqnito” mosquito: Enright GDG 1900 [:111:10] [Gdg]

“dyuping” dyubing = “Mosquito “ mosquito: Mathews DARK 1903 [:281.1:20] [Dark]

“dyura” dyura = “Mosquito” mosquito: Mathews DG 1901 [:159.2:1] [DG]

“Teura” dyura = “A mosquito” mosquito: King in Hunter [:410.1:25] [BB]

“Tewra” dyura = “A musquito” mosquito: Anon (c) [c:24:20] [BB]

“Dyoo-ping” dyubing = “Mosquito” mosquito: Mathews 8006/3/7- No 7 [:6:16] [Dark]

 

The language references are:

—GDG: Gadang (Kutthung)

—DARK: Darkinyung

—DG: Dharug

—BB: Biyal Biyal (the Sydney Language)

The first two are northwards of Sydney.

 

Thus the sentence is not about ‘quick’ but rather means:

Run! Hey! Mosquito!

(Run! there are mosquitos around here!)

The implication is that it would have been advisable to take quick action.

 

There are further examples to show that mosquitos are so named because they ‘spear’ and ‘prick’, and pierce’:

“Door-a-lang” duralang = “To prick” pierce: King in Hunter [:408.2:12] [BB]

“Dtoóra” dura = “to pinch” pierce, to: Dawes (b) [b:5:2] [BB]

“Dtoóradiou” duradyawu = “I struck or did strike (as a fish with a fishgig)” pierce did I: Dawes (b) [b:5:13] [BB]

“D’turra-d’oway” duradyawu = “I have struck” pierce did I: Southwell [:149.1:29.1] [BB]

 

“dyurugun” dyurugun = “Sharp “ sharp: Mathews KML/Dwl [:278.8:6] [Dwl]

“thurara” durara = “Sting or stab” pierce: Mathews KML/Dwl [:279.4:46] [Dwl]

 

 

There is even a distant link with NYUNGAR Words of Western Australia. Three examples make the point:

“dtan” dan = “pierce, to; penetrate; make an opening” pierce: [4] Grey 1840 [:349:24] [NYUNGAR]

“Dtan” dan = “pierce” pierce: Symmons, Charles [:16:36] [NYUNGAR]

“Dtan” dan = “Penetrate, to” pierce: Moore 1842 [:150:32] [NYUNGAR]