A Vocabulary of the Dialects of South Western AustraliaNorthward from King George's Sound to more than 100 miles beyond Perth. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
affix amongst animal Australian word Banksia cones bark boka bone boola boorda Boyl-ya brother burning burrang By-yu carry cloak compound words corruption dialect district dual duck feathers female fire formed frog eaten fungus eaten gwabba head Kalla kangaroo rat King George's Sound large species letter marsupial Maryne mouth nadjoo nalgo native dance natives are divided navel Ngan-now Ngotaks Participle person Perth preterite pronouns pudenda root eaten s.)-a small species s.)-a species season sorcerer sore South Australia spear species of bird species of cray-fish species of Eucalyptus species of fish species of fly species of frog species of fungus species of guana species of hawk species of kangaroo species of mouse species of opossum species of paroquet species of snake species of Xanthorrhea star steal stick Swan River thing tree tribes verbs Vocabulary vowel Watto ween Western Australia wife wild turkey wind Woor worn Yoongar Zamia
Popular passages
Page 64 - A certain mysterious connection exists between a family and its kobong, so that a member of the family will never kill an animal of the species, to which his kobong...
Page 7 - Xanthorea or grass-tree, and the wattle-tree, have a fragrant, aromatic flavour, and form a favourite food among the natives, either raw or roasted. The presence of these grubs in a Xanthorea is thus ascertained : if the top of one of these trees is observed to be dead, and it contain any Bardi, a few sharp kicks given to it with the foot will cause it to crack and shake, when it is pushed over and the grub extracted, by breaking the tree to pieces with a hammer. The Bardi of the Xanthorea are small,...
Page iii - Australia, whose locations extend northward from King; George's Sound, to more than one hundred miles beyond Perth. Throughout the whole of this extensive range of country, the language is radically the same, though the variations in dialect, and in the use of certain words by single tribes are very considerable...
Page 29 - Djin-be-nong-era, a species of duck. " The Ngotaks formerly belonged to this class of birds, before they were changed into men." 3. Karbunga, a species of water-fowl ; the mountain duck. " The No-go-nyuks are said to be these birds transformed into men.
Page 123 - Servius makes this the same with the abolla, a woollen cloak which was probably only a varied form of the pallium. 422. Lacertas, as Crombie has shown, means the upper part of the arm, from the elbow to the shoulder. This is the most muscular portion of the arm, and is therefore employed here to carry with it the idea of strength.
Page 5 - ... which the aborigines of Western Australia appear to be divided. The general laws relating to marriage have reference to these families. No man can marry a woman of his own family name ; and the children all take that of the mother. As the hunting ground or landed property descends in the male line, it follows that the land is never for two generations in the hands of men of the same family name ; and in the event of a man having several wives of different family names, his lands are at his death...
Page 4 - ... Unfortunately, he seems to have been able to collect the meaning in eight cases only, and we have been unable to enlarge the list.1 Subjoined are the derivations in the eight cases : — 1. Ballaroke. Ballar-wak, Ballar, is given in the vocabulary as a very small species of Opossum, with this note : " Some natives say that the Ballaroke family derive their name from having in former times subsisted principally on this little animal.
Page 32 - Pearsonia, a plant. Ngow-er, s. — A tuft, formed of the tail or winged feathers of a bird, worn in the hair. The feathery part is stripped from the stiff stem or quill, and tied upon a small stick like a skewer. Ngowerit— (KGS) The navel. Ngow-o...
Page 121 - HIS, (2) fastened up (3) plant a creeper wiänyurt and plant water-tree (Cha) "with little flowers, very tight, used in bunches as fishing net" (Cassytha racemosa Nees) , field specimen No. 25 (Bra), HIS: W. only, wad-ju 'hair of head arranged with grease and wilgey' (Arm) , wad- jo "fastened up, as "katta mungara wadjoo", the hair of the head rolled up in the way the natives wear it" (Gre) , wadju "a term applied to the hair of the head, katta mangara wadju, meaning that it is properly dressed ....