Aboriginal words - examples

| Origins: Australian Aborigines | Chris Illert CV | Proto-Australian Language | Traditional Aboriginal Languages | Words |

Twinkle twinkle little star in Proto-Australian

Contents

  1. Place names and words
  2. Platypus
  3. Koala
  4. Snowy Mountains
  5. Bundanoon
  6. Gingenbullen
  7. Persoonia / Geebung plant
  8. Xanthorrhea
  9. Sarsaparilla
  10. Native Cherry
  11. Wagga Wagga
  12. Bulli
  13. Jeribolee

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1. Place names and words

Language is a core component of any culture. It forms the basis of communication - the passing on of ceremony, processes, stories and memories. Whether that language is purely oral - as is seems to have been prior to less than 10,000 ya - or written down in some form such as pictographs or words and later recorded, speech and its preservation is one of the key to the past, with ongoing impact upon the present and future. The Australian Aboriginal language - herein referring to its many different forms, dialects, minor and major variations over time - is the oldest surviving language on planet Earth. Due to its unique evolution, largely in isolation, much that remains is directly connected with the distant past. As such, it is important to preserve and maintain it. The work of the present writer in compiling and publishing word lists of the Illawarra and south coast regions of southeastern Australia from the early colonial period through to the early twentieth century aims to support these aims. 

As a result, it has become a fact that often the first occasion on which non-Indigenous Australia residents encounter Aboriginal culture is in the form of place names - of towns, cities, streets, mountains, creeks and river and associated landforms. Often these names also have connection with Indigenous society and culture, such as dance, story-telling and ceremony, and with native flora and fauna. However, place names are most prominent. Why? Because from the earliest period of European settlement at Sydney in January 1788, those who recorded Aboriginal language on paper included locations - what the local people call Country. Most importantly, from the 1820s the colonial Surveyor-General who was responsible for the then settled section of the country through its southeastern corner from Queensland in the north down to Victoria - Thomas Livingstone Mitchell - requested his surveyors, through to the 1840s, to record native names of places on their maps. This process continued throughout Australia into the following centuries and, to a degree, up to the present day, where new subdivisions and estates are allocated Indigenous names by community at the request of local Councils. Place names are, for example, scattered along the east coast in the region of Illawarra and the Shoalhaven - Bulli, Thirroul, Towradgi, Wollongong, Mt. Kiera, Kiama, Gerringong, Coolangatta / Cullingutty, Ulladulla, Mt Gulaga. Thousands of words and phrases were recorded on paper for the first time and survive to the present day, either in place or archival collections. The memories of surviving members of local families also provide sources of information. The aim is to release many of those 'lost' names and also investigate their true meaning.

The following are Australian Aboriginal words and phrases as translated by Dr. Chris Illert during the period from the late 1980s through to his passing in 2024. These examples are taken directly from his published works, and from a few examples derived by the present writer, in consultation with Dr. Illert.

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2. Platypus

* Aboriginal - Mullangong (1891)

* English - Platypus (1799)

* Scientific name - Ornithorhynchus anatinus

* Phonetic translation (root words) - mula : ŋ-gʊn : g(ʊn);- (Illert 2001)

* English translation (root words combined) - bubbly very thing / very bubbly thing (Illert 2001)

* English pronunciation - moola : ng-gayan : g

[NB: Repetition of the latter two elements of the word - ŋ-gʊn : g(ʊn) - create emphasis or expansion, as in very bubbly thing, rather than simply bubbly thing. In addition, gong is a very common root word which forms part of the written form of the version of Aboriginal Australian presented here. Some abbreviation of the root elements can also occur during word formation.]

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3. Koala

* Aboriginal - goollaya-winy / koala

* English - Koala

* Scientific name - Phascolarctos cinereus

* English translation (root words combined) - lethargic climber

* Phonetic translation (root words) - .......

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4. Snowy Mountains

In 1837 Philip Gidley King, former crew member of the Beagle expeditions of the 1830s, recorded the Aboriginal name of the Snowy Mountains in southern New South Wales, as seen from a distance - munyang. His friend, the Reverend W.B. Clarke, also recorded the name during his visit in 1851-2 - moniong. Both men wrote down differently spelt words as the English equivalents of what they heard, yet both informants were referring to the same thing. Illert, using his 18 sounds and 56 words, identified the roots of the word heard by King as:

munyang - original Aboriginal as recorded

mʊ(ra) : nʊ(ra) : ŋ(uru) - Aboriginal phonetic breakdown by Illert

= maia : nhaia : ng = munyang - English phonetic

> great - yonder - bright thing - English translation

The three root-words identified above were able to be mixed around in their order to provide the same meaning, but a slightly different sounding word as heard by Clarke:

moniong

mʊ(ra) - nʊ(ra) - ŋ(uru)

= maia : nhaia : ng = numiong

> yonder - great - bright thing

This flipping of root words was revealed as a common use of Proto-Australian during the nineteenth century, and it is the reason it was thought that there were so many different languages, rather than variant uses of a basic language which could nevertheless be understood across a wide area. In the above instance, the far off view of the snow-covered mountains is described in terms of a bright thing in the distance.

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5. Bundanoon

A town on the New South Wales Southern Highlands (Illert 2022).

bʊ(ra) : n : dʊ(la) : ɳʊŋ

= baia : n : daia : naing

> between : thing : someone’s

i.e. where someone rests between places e.g., travelling to and from the Shoalhaven.

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6. Gingenbullen

A small mountain near Moss Vale, New South Wales (Illert 2007 & 2022). Identified as relating to the Gundungara language, Midthung idiom.

gʊn : gʊn : bulʊ : ŋ

= gayan : gayan : bulay : ng

>very : very: sick (dead) place // very : very : down/sick person

i.e. big burial site / burial mound.

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7. Persoonia (Geebung plant)

Latin name: Persoonia

Aboriginal name: Geeboong

Phonetic: dji-b-ng / ɖ : b : ŋ

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8. Xanthorrhea

English name: Grass Tree

Latin name: Xanthorrhea

Aboriginal name: gayala : ga-dhee : woor

Phonetic: gʊla : ga-ɖ i : wur

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9. Sarsaparilla / Smilax

English name: Sarsaparilla

Aboriginal name: wayaree-bayaroo

Translating: a good sleep

Phonetic: wʊri : b ʊru

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10. Native Cherry

English name: Native Cherry / Currant

Aboriginal name: bayaloo-d'h 

Translation: projecting thing / fruit

Phonetic: b ʊlu : d

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11. Wagga wagga

Word: wagga

Phonetic:

English meanings: many dances and celebrations / place of many crows. 

NB: The doubling of the work usually indicates plural, or many. The various forms of the word / phrase include:

  • Dance - corroboree / korobra / krabre
  • Crow - wagoora / wahga (Frank McCaffrey early 1900s) / wahra / wahgon / wahnun / wahra / waawunna / warwanan / metiba / wagan (Wiradjuri)

It seems likely that the words wagga wagga refer to a place of many crows, with the word wahga being recorded in the Illawarra and South Coast during he early 1900s by Frank McCaffrey, possible from a correspondent who had came from that area of Country south west of the coastal area; or that word was also used locally. 

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12. Bulli

Spelling: bulli / bulleye / polai

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13. Jeribolie

English: Jerry Bailey 

Phonetic

Aboriginal name:

Meaning:

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13. References

Lauren Pezet, Wagga Wagga officially drops 'crow' and adopts city's Aboriginal meaning as 'dance and celebration',  ABC News, 27 August 2019. Promoted by Stan Grant snr.

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| Origins: Australian Aborigines | Chris Illert CV | Proto-Australian Language | Traditional Aboriginal Languages | Words |

Shoalhaven: | Aunty Julie Freeman art | Australian First Nations research | Berry' Frankenstein & Arawarra | Cullunghutti - Sacred Mountain | Gooloo Creek, Conjola | Mickey of Ulladulla | Mount Gigenbullen | Byamee's Hands, Shoalhaven River | Ulladulla Mission | Words |

Last updated: 5 May 2025

Michael Organ, Australia (Home)

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