Ngunnawal language

Encyclopedia : N : NG : NGU : Ngunnawal language

The city of Canberra is named after the Ngunnawal word 'Kambera'. The pronunciation of "Canberrra" by most non-indigenous Australians is much closer to "Kambera" than "Canberra".

Ngunnawal language, language spoken by the Ngunnawal people, an Australian Aboriginal tribe who lived in the Canberra area.

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' [link]

• Ginninderra - sparkling or 'throwing out little rays of light'. [link] (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 [link]

• Murrumbidgee means "big river" (See Murrumbidgee River )

Other Ngunnawal words

• Mura Gadi means 'pathways for searching' [link]. Gadi by itself means 'searching for', [link] 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 [link]

• Several Ngunnawal words were used as street names in the suburb of Ngunnawal [link] such as:
• *Gadali - to hunt
• *Guginya - kookaburra
• *Gula - koala
• *Mura - pathway (Also used here [link]
• *Burin - stringybark [link]

• Other explanations for street names in Ngunnawal language listed by the ACT planning and land authority [link]:
• *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. [link]

• winyu - sun [link]

• umbagong - axe [link] Umbagong district park in Belconnen was named after this.

Possible Ngunnawal words

The Gang-gang Cockatoo is possibly named after a Ngunnawal word

• 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.) [link]

• 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'. [link]

• Yhar - running water (town of Yass named after this, where many Ngunnawal people had camped.) [link]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.