Ngunnawal language
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| Ngunnawal | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | New South Wales & ACT, Australia | |
| Total speakers: | ||
| Language family: | Pama-Nyungan Yuin-Kuric Ngunnawal |
|
| Writing system: | Latin alphabet | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | aus | |
| ISO/FDIS 639-3: | — | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
Ngunnawal or Ngunawal is an Australian Aboriginal language, the traditional language of the Ngunnawal people.
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[edit] Classification
Ngunnawal is currently classified as a member of the Yuin-Kuric subgroup of the large Pama-Nyungan language family.
[edit] Prominent place names
Some meanings for Ngunnawal words:
- Kambera - where the name Canberra may have come from, said to mean 'meeting place'
- Tuggeranong, a district of Canberra, comes from the Ngunnawal word for 'cold place' [1]
- Ginninderra - sparkling or 'throwing out little rays of light'. [2] (pdf) Lake Ginninderra and Ginninderra creek in Belconnen has this name.
- Yeal-am-bid-gie is the name for the Molonglo River, recorded by C. THROSBY in 1820 [3]
- Murrumbidgee means "big river" (See Murrumbidgee River )
[edit] Other Ngunnawal words
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- Mura Gadi means 'pathways for searching' [4]. Gadi by itself means 'searching for', [5] the Gadi Research Centre at the University of Canberra with this name.
- Bimbi - Bird
- Nengi Bamir - See far (View)
- Dulwa - Casurina trees
- Bargang - Melliodora trees
- Yerra - swim
- Gummiuk - bulrushes
- Ngadyung - water
- Nguru - camp
- Mundang - canoe
- Weereewa - Lake George [8]
- Several Ngunnawal words were used as street names in the suburb of Ngunnawal [9] such as:
- Other explanations for street names in Ngunnawal language listed by the ACT planning and land authority [12]:
- Bargang - yellow box
- Bimbiang - shield
- Birrigai - to laugh
- Budyan - birds
- Bunburung - small lizard
- Burin - stringy bark
- Burrai - quick
- Bunduluk - rosella
- Berra - boomerang
- Bamir - long
- Balbo - kangaroo rat
- Bural - day
- Gamburra - flowers
- Giliruk - pee wee
- Gunyan - slow
- Gurubun - koala
- Karrugang - magpie
- Kudyera - fighting club
- Mirrabei - the name for tribal elder Matilda Sissy Williams (died 1973)
- Mulleun - eagle
- Murrung - lizard
- Mundawari - bandicoot
- Nangi - see or look
- Walga - hawk
- Warabin - curlew
- Warrumbul - youth
- Wirria - tree goanna
- Yerra - to fly like a bird
- Yerrabi - to walk
- Yumba - eel
- Narragunnawali - means 'alive/well-being/ coming together' as used in the Peace Park near the National Library. [13]
[edit] Possible Ngunnawal words
- gang-gang - name for a 'small black cockatoo' (possibly the only non-locality Ngunnawal word in current use - for the Gang-gang Cockatoo, although the word is claimed as being of Wiradhuri origin by another source.) [16]
- Gungahlin - name for a district in Canberra, which gets its name from the homestead built in 1862 by Edward Crace called 'Goongarline' , which is said to be an aboriginal word for 'white man's house', or mean 'wonderful' or 'beautiful'. [17]
[edit] References
[edit] Primary sources
- Mathews, R. H. (Jul.–Dec. 1904). "The Wiradyuri and other languages of New South Wales". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 34: 284–305.
[edit] Secondary sources
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