‘Teal’ or ‘tall’: Delving into the Tasmanian vocabularies
- Jeremy Steele
- Jul 20
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 30
Among Australian languages the Tasmanian Aboriginal languages are a special case. The island of Tasmania has been separated from the mainland for perhaps 12 000 years, since the ending of the last ice age. While there is some speculation about whether Tasmanian languages—and scholars estimate there were between half a dozen and as many as twelve—were Australian languages at all, they probably were. Since prior to the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the Aboriginal people had not developed writing, the only records of Australian languages were made by Europeans after this date. It is a disappointing fact that the records that were made in Tasmania are far from comprehensive and generally of low quality. For example, only two pronouns, for ‘I’ and ‘you’-singular, are certain, leaving out 'he' (and 'she' and 'it'), 'we', 'you'-plural and 'they'. There is nothing really about how verbs work, so no tenses of past, present and future. A very large number of suffixes, or endings, to words were noted by the numerous recorders, but no-one appears to have enquired what they signified, or if he or she did, did not write it down.
A consequence of this is that anyone wishing to attempt to find out about Tasmanian languages from the records that were made has an almost insurmountable challenge, the following being an example.
The recorders noted words for ‘duck’:
Australian | respelt | English | EngJSM | source |
"tine.nar" | dana | "musk duck" | duck [musk] | Plomley gar [:146:12] [NMid] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"tee.ner" | dina | "musk duck" | duck [musk] | Plomley gar [:146:11] [NE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"ting.he" | dinGi | "musk duck" | duck [musk] | Plomley gar [:146:14] [SE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"tenghyenna" | dinGi-na | "musk duck" | duck [musk] | Plomley mj [:146:13],[OyB],[Tas],[1857] |
"too.rer.moon" | duramun | "duck" | duck | Plomley gar [:146:16] [NE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"kome.pone.ner" | gumbu-na | "duck" | duck | Plomley st [:145:10] [OyB] [Tas] [1828] |
"kone.ne.er.me.nit.yer" | guniya minidya | "musk duck" | duck [musk] | Plomley gar [:145:12] [OyB] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"lonna mutta" | lanamada | "mountain duck" | duck [mountain] | Plomley mj [:145:32],[OyB],[Tas],[1857] |
"loe.mal.le.pen.ner" | lumalibina | "duck" | duck | Plomley gar [:145:22] [NE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"lo.mol.pit.ten.ner" | lumulbidina | "duck" | duck | Plomley gar [:145:25] [NE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"lone.er.mut.tar" | lunamada | "duck" | duck | Plomley cr [:145:30] [BRiv] [Tas] [c.1838] |
"loy.rer" | luwi-ra | "spoonbill duck" | duck [spoonbill] | Plomley gar [:145:34] [] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"opah" | uba | "mountain duck" | duck [mountain] | Plomley mj [:146:3],[SE],[Tas],[1857] |
"no.par" | nuba | "duck" | duck | Plomley gar [:145:42] [SW] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"no.pur" | nubur | "duck" | duck | Plomley gar [:145:39] [SW] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"nuwarra" | nuwa-ra | "duck" | duck | Plomley wn [:146:26],[],[Tas],[1934] |
"rarn.dil.der.rer" | randildara | "musk duck" | duck [musk] | Plomley gar [:146:7] [Wst] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"rangawah" | rangawa | "musk duck" | duck [musk] | Plomley mj [:146:5],[SE],[Tas],[1857] |
"wiekennya" | wigi-nya | "duck (gender not distinguished)" | duck | Plomley mj [A610.mj:145:20] [OyB] [Tas] [1857] |
"wool.ler.min.ner" | wulamina | "duck" | duck | Plomley st [:146:20] [OyB] [Tas] [1828] |
"Woaroire" | warari | "Duck" | duck | Barry, R. Vocab of Dialects: Tas Mt Royal, Brune Is [:3.94:53] [SE] [Tas] [1869] |
"wur.rah" | wura | "duck" | duck [black] | Plomley gar [:146:25] [SE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"wore.rad.dy" | wura-di | "duck" | duck | Plomley gar [:146:22] [SW] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"woaroiré" | wuru-ri | "duck (gender not distinguished)" | duck | Plomley mj [A610.mj:146:23] [SE] [Tas] [1857] |
Table 1: All the words for ‘duck’
As can be seen from the table there were many records, the area of Tasmania where the record was made being given in the pink source column on the right (in square brackets before [Tas]) and shown on the following map indicating Tasmanian language groups. Thus 'NMid' represents North Midlands and 'BRiv' indicates Big River. The map is based on Lyndall Ryan's map of Aboriginal tribal boundaries in Ryan, Lyndall. The Aboriginal Tasmanians. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd, 1996, p.15.
There is another word for a type of duck, 'teal', the records made for which were the following:
lumalida-bina | "teal" | duck freshwater | Plomley gar [:145:27] [NE] [Tas] [c.1835] | |
"lue.er.pum.mel.ler" | luwaba-mila | "? teal" | duck freshwater | Plomley gar [:145:37] [OyB] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"ryennatiabrootea" | ranadiya brudiya | "teal" | duck | Plomley mj [A610.mj:146:9] [OyB] [Tas] [1857] |
"Ryennatiabrootea" | rayinadya brudiya | "Teal" | duck | Curr 3,#A12a,Milligan,Oyster,Bay,[3:664:10.1] [OyB] [Tas] [1859] |
"weahwanghrutah" | wiyawang bruda | "teal" | duck freshwater | Plomley mj [A610.mj:146:18] [SE] [Tas] [1857] |
"Weahwanghrutah" | wiyawangruda | "Teal" | birdtype [teal] | Curr 3,#A12b,Milligan,South,[3:664:10.2] [SE] [Tas] [1859] |
Table 2: Another type of duck: ‘teal’
Although the original records, in the first dark-grey column, are all long words, since Aboriginal words tended in general to be short, possibly the records were in fact each two or more words run together, as reflected in the orange respelt column, the respelling and word division being admittedly a guess. The first two are typically puzzling, and can be dismissed for the time being. There is, however, something the remaining four have in common. In the second part of each the letters ‘rud’ occur. In examining Tasmanian words it is tempting to try to see what the component parts signify, and usually this is impossible. However, on this occasion, your amateur researcher (YAR) formed an idea: the somewhat unusual word ‘teal’ is quite similar in shape, or morphologically, as linguists might say, to the word ‘tall’. Might there possibly be any connection? So, let’s look up the words recorded for ‘tall’.
1 | "Rotulih" | rudu-li | "Tall" | lengthy | Barry, R. Vocab of Dialects: Tas Mt Royal, Brune Is [:3.94:118] [SE] [Tas] [1869] |
2 | "righ eleebana" | ra ilibana | "[tall]" | lengthy fit | Plomley mj [:280:42.2] [OyB] [Tas] [1857] |
3 | "takkaro deleeaban righ eleebana" | daga rud iliyaban / ra ilibana | "tall" | go lengthy fit / lengthy fit | Plomley mj [:280:42],[OyB],[Tas],[1857] |
4 | "[takkaro deleeaban]" | rud | "[tall]" | lengthy | Plomley mj [:280:42.12] [] [Tas] [1857] |
5 | "takkaro deleebano" | daga rud iliyabanu | "tall" | go lengthy fit | Plomley mj [A610.mj:280:43.1] [OyB] [Tas] [1857] |
6 | "Nienta mena tuggara root' eleebana." | ninda mina dagara rud ilibana | "My sister is very tall." | sister me-of go lengthy fit | Plomley JMill [A610.mj:36:39] [OyB] [Tas] [1857] |
7 | "[root]" | rud | "[My sister is very tall.]" | lengthy | Plomley JMill [A610.mj:36:39.4] [OyB] [Tas] [1857] |
8 | "poot.tang.en.ner" | budangina | "tall" | lengthy | Plomley gar [:429:2] [SE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
Table 3: All the words for ‘tall’
In Table 3, the final entry, #8, can be ignored as it is different from all the rest.
The word ‘lengthy’ for ‘tall’ is used as the modern simple retranslation in the yellow column because in Australian languages often the same word is used for different words in English that express length, such as 'long', 'wide', 'broad', 'deep', 'height', so the all-encompassing word ‘lengthy’ was selected to cover these.
Another seeming oddity in the yellow column is the word ‘fit’, chosen for the same sort of reason. It is used to cover a variety of English ideas that may be expressed by the same word in Australian languages. So ‘fit’ conveys a positive idea, such as at times 'correct', 'straight', 'good', 'right', and even right in the sense of right-handed. The reason why the word ‘good’ was not chosen as the cover-all for these terms is that ‘good’ can also convey ideas of ‘not bad’, ‘not evil’, 'pretty', 'handsome', which are somewhat different from the ‘fit’ group. And there is always a different Aboriginal word for ‘good’ of this other sort.
On examining Table 3 one at once sees, in the orange respelt column, ‘rud’ words, or in one case, ‘ra’. How to respell words is up to the researcher, including the writer, YAR. In the case of record #2, righ eleebana, all that need be explained is that righ is taken to be pronounced more or less as the first four letters of the English word ‘right’, hence ra. Admittedly this is an approximation. As with so many original records, the way they were originally spelt depended on what was in the mind of the original recorder at the time. William Dawes, most significant recorder of the Sydney language, wrote:
"Ngía Ni (as nigh)" | ngaya na | "I see or look" | I see | Dawes (a) [a:1:1] [BB] [NSW] [1790-91] |
Table 4: I see or look
‘Ni (as nigh)’, which has been respelt as na.
To illustrate how the respelling of original records is a matter of interpretation and perception, here is a respelling done earlier of an example almost identical to record #3 in Table 3 above:
"Takkaro deleeabano righ eleebana" | dagaru diliyabanu ragilibana | "Tall" | lengthy | Curr 3,#A12a, Milligan, Oyster, Bay, [3:664:5.1] [OyB] [Tas] [1859] |
Table 5: Earlier respelling
Compare the respellings:
Table 3: daga rud iliyaban / ra ilibana
Table 5: dagaru diliyabanu ragilibana
It was only on noticing the possible significance of the word rud, and at the same time identifying a form giving ilibana, that the respelling of Table 3 occurred. And when the respelling is done this way, the possible significance of the phrase jumps out.
In Table 3, there are possible, in fact probable, renderings of words for ‘lengthy’ and ‘’fit’. Another word worth noting and explaining is daga, translated as ‘go’ in the yellow column. This might seem odd, and a possible explanation of it is the following. Australian languages had no words for the very common concepts in European languages of ‘to be’ and ‘to have’. However, they often got around this difficulty by using another word, namely ‘to sit’ (or to stay, or to remain). It is possible that in Tasmania another word was used for this purpose instead of ‘sit’, namely ‘go’. This is a speculation, but why not use ‘go’?
Record #6 in Table 3 is one of a smallish number of sentences recorded in a Tasmanian language. It yields:
Nienta mena tuggara root' eleebana
ninda mina dagara rud ilibana
sister me-of go lengthy fit
My sister is very tall
or
my sister is splendidly tall
It is time to look at Table 2 again, to see if there really were rud words in of, because in the following extract they do not seem to be exactly that:
1 | "ryennatiabrootea" | ranadiya brudiya |
2 | "Ryennatiabrootea" | rayinadya brudiya |
3 | "weahwanghrutah" | wiyawang bruda |
4 | "Weahwanghrutah" | wiyawangruda |
Table 6: Extract from Table 2
Once again, the respelling is arbitrary. Note than in rows 1 and 2, in the original records, the final part is brootea. In rows 3 and 4 the corresponding parts are hrutah. The letters ‘b’ and ‘h’ are very similar in appearance, so perhaps all four were either ‘h’ or ‘b’ as originally recorded. If ‘h’, then the first pair would have ended …tiah, not …tiab, and would have accordingly resulted in the respelling as given in Table 6, without the initial ‘b’, in records #1 and #2, thus:
ranadiya rudiya
rayinadya rudiya
In fact both could have been respelt identically, as in the preferred top example.
wiyawang ruda
All four of the records featured in Table 6 are by Joseph Milligan in the 1850s, and all have been published:
MILLIGAN, J. (1859). "On the dialects and language of the aboriginal tribes of Tasmania, and on their manners and customs." Pap. Proc. roy. Soc. Tas.: 275-282.
and can be looked up on the internet at: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/36246/lc1856pp7.pdf
In order to see if Milligan wrote the letter ‘h’ or the letter ‘b’ it would be necessary to look at the original manuscript in the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
On the evidence presented here it does look as though the word ‘teal’ might well have been ‘tall’—something else to check in the original handwritten records—especially since all the specific types of duck featured in Table 1 are particularly described as ‘musk duck’, ‘mountain duck’ and so on, leading one to think that if the word really were ‘teal’, then it might have been written as ‘teal duck’, but it was not.
Jeremy Steele
18 July 2025
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