Ngunnawal language
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| Ngunnawal | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | New South Wales & ACT, Australia | |
| Total speakers: | Ngarigo/Ngarigu speakers | |
| Language family: | Nammutch mittung Yammoit mittung Ngai-mutch mittung Ngunnawal |
|
| Writing system: | ngarigu/Ngarogi | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | – | |
| ISO 639-3: | – | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Ngunnawal or Ngunawal is an Australian Aboriginal language, the traditional language of the Ngunawal people.
Contents |
[edit] Classification
Ngunawal is currently classified as a sub-tribe of the larger Ngarigu/Ngarigo dialect area that covers the limestone plains of Monaro/Maneroo in NSW to ACT across the Monaro tableland through to the Australian Alps of NSW/VIC Snowy Mountains.
[edit] Prominent place names
Some meanings for Ngunawal words:
- Kambera - where the name Canberra may have come from, said to mean 'meeting place' for big Bogong moths
- Tuggeranong, a district of Canberra, comes from the Ngarigo/Ngarigu word
- Ginninderra - is also a Ngarigo
- Yeal-am-bid-gie is the name for the Molonglo River, recorded by C. THROSBY in 1820 [1]
- Murrumbidgee means "big river" (See Murrumbidgee River )
[edit] Other Ngarigo/Ngarigu words
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- Mura Gadi means 'pathways for searching' [2]. Gadi by itself means 'searching for', [3] the Gadi Research Centre at the University of Canberra with this name.
- Bimbi - Bird
- Nengi Bamir - See far (View)
- Dulwa - Casuarina trees
- Bargang - Melliodora trees
- Yerra - swim
- Gummiuk - bulrushes
- Ngadyung - water
- Nguru - camp
- Mundang - canoe [4] [5] (pdf format)
- Weereewa - Lake George [6]
- Several Ngunawal sub-tribe words of Ngarigo/Ngarigu were used as street names in the suburb of Ngunnawal area [7] such as:
- Other explanations for street names in Ngunawal sub-tribe Ngarigo language listed by the ACT planning and land authority [10]:
- 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. [11]
[edit] Possible Ngunawal words
- gang-gang - name for a 'small black cockatoo' (possibly the only non-locality Ngunawal word in current use - for the Gang-gang Cockatoo, although the word is claimed as being of Wiradhuri origin by another source.) [14]
- 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'. [15]
[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. doi:.
