Australian Aboriginal Words in English: Their Origin and MeaningThis extensive reference provides authoritative information about the history of over 400 words from Aboriginal languages, offering the fullest available information about their Aboriginal background and Australian English history. The book begins with a general history of the 250 Australian aboriginal languages, including profiles of the languages that have been most significant as sources for borrowing. The words are then grouped according to subject--birds, fish, edible flora, dwellings, etc.--with each work listed in a dictionary-style entry. The book concludes by addressing how words changed in English, and discusses English words that have since been adopted into Aboriginal languages. |
Contents
An introduction to Australian languages | 1 |
Some important languages | 23 |
The words that were borrowed | 60 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal Acacia animal applied Australian languages bark become bird boomerang borrowed called central ceremonies chapter Chiefly coast common described Dharuk dialect Dictionary dingo Dyirbal early east eastern eaten edible English especially Eucalyptus Europeans fish followed Formerly fruit genus given grammar ground head hunting initiation inland Kamilaroi kangaroo kind known Lake land leaves linguistic lists lived loan loan words mallee meaning mulga native Northern Territory Note noun Nyungar object Obsolete occurring original person Perth-Albany region pidgin plant Port Possibly probably Queensland Range recorded refer River rock root seeds shrub similar sometimes sound South Australia South Wales south-west southern speakers spear spirit spoken stick stone Sydney region taken term traditional tree tribe usually variety verb Victoria vocabulary wallaby Western Australia Wiradhuri wood written