Boonwurrung is closely related to Woiwurrung, with which it shares 93% of its vocabulary, and to a lesser degree with Taungurung spoken north of the Great Dividing Range in the area of the Goulburn River, with which it shares 80%.[6] Woiwurrung, Taungurong and Boonwurrung have been considered by linguists to be dialects of a single Central Victorian language, whose range stretched from almost Echuca in the north, to Wilsons Promontory in the south.[7]
R. Brough Smyth wrote in 1878 that "The dialects of the Wooeewoorong or Wawoorong tribe (River Yarra) and the Boonoorong tribe (Coast) are the same. Twenty-three words out of thirty are, making allowances for differences of spelling and pronunciation, identical; five have evidently the same roots, and only two are widely different".[8]
It is not clear if the two rhotics are trill and flap, or tap and approximant. Vowels in Woiwurrung are /a e i o u/.[9]
Pronouns
In the case of the Woiwurrung pronouns, the stem seems to be the standard ngali'you and I', but the front was suffixed to wa-, so wa+ngal combines to form wangal below.[10] In Kulin languages there is no grammatical gender.[11]
boorondara = shade, darkness, night (origin of the name of the City of Boroondara)
nyilum biik = poor soil / hard land (origin of the name of Nillumbik Shire)
wominjeka = hello / welcome (womin = come, je [dji] = asking to come, ka = purpose)
yabber = to talk (this word, with the same meaning, has made its way into informal English)[12]
yarra = flowing, (also means "hair"). It is thought to have been mistakenly given to the Yarra River (referred to as Birrarrung in the Woiwurrung language) by an early settler who asked a boy what it was called, who was confused and answered "it is flowing".
Number and sign system
A numbering system was used when Wurundjeri clans sent out messengers to advise neighbouring clans of upcoming events, such as a ceremony, corroboree, a challenge to fight or Marn grook ball game. Messengers carried a message stick with markings to indicate the number and type of people involved and a prop to indicate the type of event, such as a ball for a Marn grook event. The location of meeting was spoken, but neighbouring clans might not use the same language, so a sign language was used to indicate the number of days in the future when the people should assemble. The number was indicated by pointing to a location on the body from 1 to 16. After 16, at the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body.[13]
Numeral
Spoken number
Sign of the number
Literal meaning
1
bubupi-muningya
little finger
child of the hand
2
bulato-ravel
third finger
little larger
3
bulato
middle finger
larger
4
urnung-meluk
forefinger
urnung means a direction, meluk means a large grub found in some eucalypti
5
babungyi-muningya
thumb
the mother of the hand
6
krauel
wrist-joint
7
ngurumbul
the divergence of the radial tendons
a fork
8
jeraubil
the swelling of the radial muscles
9
thambur
the inside of the elbow-joint
a round place
10
berbert
biceps
the ringtail possum and also the name of the armlet made from the pelt of that animal, worn on the bicep during festive occasions
11
wulung
shoulder-joint
12
krakerap
the collar-bone
the place where the bag hangs by its band
13
gurnbert
the neck
reed necklace, or place where the reed necklace is worn
14
kurnagor
the lobe of the ear
the point or end of a hill, or of a spur or ridge
15
ngarabul
the side of the skull
a range or the ridge of a hill
16
bundial
top of the head
the cutting-place, the place where the mourner cuts himself with some sharp instrument, from budagra meaning to cut
17+
From the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body. 17 is the other side of the skull.
Boonwurrung
Placenames derived from Boonwurrung language terms
Debated, some sources claim "Parrot", referring specifically to the crimson rosella. However, other sources claim this to be folk etymology.[22] The name Datnum is recorded as the name of the parrot spirit who assisted Bunjil, one of six wirmums or shamans in Kulin mythology.
Unclear, may be connected to Laang meaning stony, although other sources claim the name derives from a different word meaning a group of trees, or from an early European settler named Lang.
From Moordy Yallock. Yallock means creek or river, in reference to the Mordialloc Creek estuary. Some sources give "moordy" as meaning "small", whereas other sources have given it to mean "swamp".[25]
Unclear, according to some sources named after a member of the native police. Identical with the word Murrumbeena recorded by Daniel Bunce in 1851 as meaning "you".[26]
Unclear, some sources allege connection to nier warreen meaning "no good water", although warreen usually refers to the sea. Other sources cite connection to narrworing, meaning "hot". Wathaurong sources refer to "warren" meaning 'towards the rising sun' or 'to the east' and "narre" meaning 'a long way' or 'far away'. Wathaurong from Ballarat and Geelong are known to have travelled to Narre Narre Warren for meetings of the Kulin Nation.
A loanword originating from Dharug language around Sydney. Usually given as meaning "wild dog", although warragul was recorded as meaning "wild" for anything, including humans. Gippsland settlers used the word in derogatory way to describe Indigenous people.[28]
↑ Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-47378-0.
↑ Other spellings and names include Boonerwrung, Boon Wurrung, Putnaroo, Thurung, Toturin, and Gippsland dialect ( "Detailed record of the Bunurong". AusAnthrop Australian Aboriginal tribal database. AusAnthrop anthropological research, resources and documentation on the Aborigines of Australia. Archived from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2012.)
↑ Blake, Barry (Ed.) (1998). Blake, Barry J. (ed.). Wathawurrung and the Colac Languages of Southern Victoria. Pacific Linguistics, Series C. Vol.147. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-C147. hdl:1885/146194. ISBN0-85883-498-7.{{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
↑ Blake, Barry J. (1991). "Woiwurrung". In Dixon, R. M. W.; Blake, Barry J. (eds.). The Aboriginal Language of Melbourne and Other Sketches. Handbook of Australian Languages. Vol.4. Oxford University Press. pp.31–124.
↑ [Language of the Aborigines of the Colony of Victoria and other Australian Districts, Daniel Bunce 1856]
↑ "The Bunyip". South Bourke and Mornington Journal. Vol.49, no.5. Victoria, Australia. 20 February 1913. p.2. Retrieved 7 August 2020– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "Angus McMillan". Gippsland Times. 24 May 1865. p.1. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
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