The following is a typical summary table from the Bayala databases presenting a few of the words for ‘kangaroo’ across the country.
Australian | respelt | English | EngJSM | source |
"uggerra" | agara | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Curr 1 #39 Belt [1:424.1:1] [Arnda] [NT] [1886] |
"Argooci" | argugi | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | SofM 19040322 [24 ClSecQld] [:26.2:31] [Ktj] [Qld] [1904] |
"badjeerie" | badyiri | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Curr 1 #9 Weedookarry [1:294.1:1] [Nymal] [WA] [1886] |
"Pun-darr" | banda | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Barlow, Harriott [:2:20.3] [Ngri] [Qld] [c.1865] |
"baricka" | bari-ga | "kangaroo" | kangaroo | Plomley ar [A2188:300:18],[Wst],[Tas],[c.1837] |
"bārrel" | baril | "kangaroo" | kangaroo | KAOL Ridley [61 Dippil] [:65.2:3] [GGbi] [Qld] [1875] |
"Péekoora" | bigura | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Walcott Nichol Bay WA [:249:12] [Jbra] [WA] [1863] |
"ply.hat.te.ner" | bla-ya-dina | "kangaroo" | kangaroo : | Plomley gar [:300:6] [OyB] |
"pray.en.ner" | bra-na | "bush kangaroo" | kangaroo | Plomley gar [:300:11] [NE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"dray" | dra | "boomer" | kangaroo | Plomley gar [:298:14],[T-S],[Tas],[c.1835] |
"yshuckuru" | dyaguru | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Curr 2 #44 Jacobs [2:14.1:1] [Wnkru] [SA] [1886] |
"Chookaroo" | dyugaru | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Curr 2 #56 Jacobs [2:108.1:1] [Dhiri] [SA] [1886] |
"Groó man" | garu-man | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Mitchell, T.L.: 6: Moreton Bay [:378:29] [Ygra] [Qld] [1839] |
"Koorbiili" | gurbili | "A Kangaroo" | kangaroo | SofM 19030130 [181: ColSec WA] [:184.3:40] [Nwla] [WA] [1904] |
"kurloo" | gurlu | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Curr 2 #72 Lake Dix [2:176.1:1] [Admna] [SA] [1886] |
"larth.gar" | la-D-ga | "kangaroo" | kangaroo | Plomley gar [:299:17] [Wst] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"lalliga" | la-li-ga | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Ro/JJ [A610.jj:13:33.1] [SE] [Tas] [] |
"lila" | lila | "kangaroo" | kangaroo : | Plomley lh [:299:3] [OyB] |
"Loi-tyo" | luwidyu | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | KING PP (Vol II appendix): Caledon Bay Gulf of Carpentaria [:634:24] [Dyyi] [NT] [1828] |
"mungaroo" | mangaru | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Curr 1 #10 Dyaburara [1:300.1:17] [Jbra] |
"(murri)" | mari | "kangaroo" | kangaroo | KAOL Ridley [75 Turrubul] [:82.4:3] [Trbl] [Qld] [1875] |
"now.wit.yer" | nawidya | "kangaroo" | kangaroo : | Plomley [:297:35] [OyB] |
"yowerda" | yawada | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | Curr 1 #12 Majanna [1:308.1:1] [Mlkna] [WA] [1886] |
"Pa-ta-go-rong" | bada-garang | "Leaping Quadruped- large specie" | kangaroo [eat]-plenty | Anon (c) [c:24:12] [BB] [NSW] [1790-91] |
"Patagorang" | bada-garang | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo [eat]-plenty | KING PP (Vol II appendix): Port Jackson [II:635:6.2] [Syd] [NSW] [c 1820] |
"Bou-rou" | buru | "Kangaroo" | kangaroo | KING PP (Vol II appendix): Port Jackson [II:635:6.6] [Syd] [NSW] [c 1820] |
The two grey columns (columns 1 & 3) are the original records for the Aboriginal word and its English translation, and are given in double inverted commas.
The orange column is a respelling of the Aboriginal word. In the Bayala databases a respelling convention is used for all words across the country. There are, for example, no double letters used in these respellings. Hyphens are also no longer used, so the examples where they occur above (e.g. rows 6, 9 & 10) were records created some years ago. Likewise colons in the yellow column are no longer used.
The yellow column gives a standardised English rendering of the word. So the original English translations of “bush kangaroo” and “boomer” in rows 10 and 11 become simply ‘kangaroo’. What does its heading ‘EngJSM’ mean? Well, ‘Eng’ is obviously ‘English’. ‘JS’ is the initials of the compiler, Jeremy Steele. And ‘M’ stands for the ‘main’ English column, because there is also a secondary light yellow English column, not shown in the table, called EngJSAdj. This is used for a word such as “black cockatoo”’ where ‘cockatoo’ is entered into the EngJSM column, and ‘black’ into EngJSAdj.
It is these two features—the standardised respelling of Aboriginal words and the standardised simplifications of their original English translations—that give the Bayala databases an unparalleled ability to uncover word and meaning matches.
It is, however, the pink source column that is the particular focus of this post. It packs in quite a bit of information, and because of this some abbreviating is necessary. The components of the pink column are the following, taking Rows 7, 8 and 25 (indicated in a lighter shade of pink) as examples:
KAOL Ridley [61 Dippil] [:65.2:3] [GGbi] [Qld] [1875]
Walcott Nichol Bay WA [:249:12] [Jbra] [WA] [1863]
Anon (c) [c:24:12] [BB] [NSW] [1790-91]
It is easier to explain the constituent components back to front.
● The last component is the date of the record.
● Next to last is the state.
● Third last is the language abbreviation, which is the reason for writing this post: see further below.
● The fourth last shows where to find the record. There are usually two but sometimes three elements here, called notebook, page and line. All three appear in the third, Anon, example above: notebook c; page 24, line 12. The two records above that (KAOL and Walcott) just have page and line numbers.
● The first component in the pink source column is the source identifier. While the source identifier names sometimes appear obscure this is because they too are abbreviated. In the Bayala databases they are drawn from there is an additional field called ‘source details’ giving explanatory information sometimes in considerable depth, the following being an example explaining the last of the examples above (Anon):
Anonymous: Notebook (c). Vocabulary of the language of N.S. Wales in the neighbourhood of Sydney. (Native & English, but not alphabetical). Marsden Collection 41645c, held in the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.
It consists of some 44 pages, mostly in copperplate hands, with occasional annotations in rough hand. It may have been written by the governors, Arthur Phillip, John Hunter and Philip Gidley King. Keith Smith has dubbed it the ‘Governors’ Vocabulary’. It is loosely thematic as it progresses, and was probably compiled over time, and by a process of analysing and writing up rough notes.
JS LIST LOCATION: Brown mid-sized ringbinder ‘DAWES WORDLISTS’ on JS upper study bookshelves. |
All of the language abbreviations used in the Bayala databases can be found in a table available on the website.
A very small portion of this table appears below as a sample. The columns headed Language, Dialect and Subdialect are largely taken from the following work, with the author's permission:
Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages. Cambridge, U.K., Cambridge University Press.
The 'JS Name' column is the language or dialect respelt according to the spelling convention used in the Bayala databases.
Abbreviation | JS Name | Language | Dialect | Subdialect | State |
Anwn | Aniwan | Aniwan |
|
| NSW |
Awa | Awabagal | Awabakal | NSW | ||
BB | Biyal Biyal | Iora | Iora |
| NSW |
BBa | Baraba Baraba | Baraba-Baraba | NSW | ||
Bbya | Baranbindya | Barranbinja |
|
| NSW |
birn | Biriin | NSW | |||
Bjlg | Bandyalang | Bandjalang |
|
| NSW |
GGbi | Gabi Gabi | Gabi-Gabi | (or Dippil) | Qld | |
Jbra | Dyaburara | Ngarluma (or Kymurra) | [[Jaburrara]] | WA |
From the sample it can be seen that the languages from which these records were sourced are:
GGbi - Gabi-Gabi
Jbra - Jaburrara, and
BB - Biyal Biyal, the classical Sydney language.
Jeremy Steele
4 July 2024
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