Primary tabs
Transcription
COMPARISON OF WORDS IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES. 131
In this list we find some of the roots that are used in Queensland and New South Wales. "Gole" may be a variation of "kore" (man) in the language of Lake Macquarie. "Wi" (with the variations "wing" and "wi-in"), meaning fire, connects these languages south of the Murray with Kamilaroi. "Dar" (the earth) is found north of Brisbane, in Queensland. "Tallanyūk" (the tongue) is evidently the same in origin as "tulle" and "tullun." "Tarranŋu" (thigh) in Taūŋguroŋ is of the root "durra" heard in many northern languages. "Tinnanūk" (the foot) is a variety of the root "tinna," "dinna," or "tidna"; both these extend over a very large portion of this Colony and of Queensland. "Muron" (alive) is the same root as "morun" or "moron" in Kamilaroi and neighbouring languages. And yet the words for dead are quite different.
The most remarkable root that re-appears in Victoria is "bullait" (two). As in the name Wolger and other words, the European ear has taken the very sharp sound of r to be that of t; it may be that this word is truly "būllair:; and in one case Mr. Parker gives "bullarbil." It is evidently the "būlār" of Kamilaroi and the "būdela" of Queensland. The words for "one" in Victoria ("kiarp" and "koenmoet") I never heard in any part of this or the northern Colony; but here is the root for two ("bular") extending over all Eastern Australia.
Like the languages on the Upper Darling and its tributaries, "Burapper," south of the Murray, is named from its negative adverb. The most striking difference between these Victorian words and those of more northerly tongues is the frequency with which the thin mutes (p, t, and especially k) end a word. In Kamilaroi every word and every syllable ends with a vowel or a liquid.[end of page]