NGAN'GI LANGUAGE

migaga

Word Class:

Meaning:

Common fig tree and its fruit.

migarimgarri

Word Class:

Meaning:

Lily species.

migarrarr

Word Class:

wupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Relax a person, make someone feel less stressed.

Kurungurr Example:

Wupungngi migarrarr.

She made me feel more relaxed.

migarrenytyi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Sandpaper fig tree and its fruit.

migarriwa

Word Class:

Meaning:

Cluster fig.

migenbi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Seed of Cochlospermum fraseri.

migurim

Wumirri Headword:

migurum

Word Class:

Meaning:

Fruit of the peanut tree.

mikanggityin

Word Class:

Meaning:

Lotus lily seed pod.

mikide

Word Class:

Meaning:

Which miyi? (ie. which fruit?, which vegetables?)

Kurungurr Example:

Miyi mikide derrgidi yerim?

Which of these fruits do you want?

mikility

Word Class:

Meaning:

Crab's eye vine.

miktyap

Word Class:

Meaning:

Mixed together, merged.

Kurungurr Example:

Miktyap kana ngannim.

We're all mixed up now (of language groups).

mikulurrfuk

Wumirri Headword:

miwalirrwa

Word Class:

Meaning:

Round yam.

Kurungurr Example:

Mikulurrfuk yu gat, i kuri kana yudi tyurr, ngan kuri danginy syirr wibem mewukume.

You need to chop Round yam up, put it in water, and soak it for at least a full day.

mikumulerrk

Word Class:

Meaning:

Edible root (tree).

milginy

Word Class:

Meaning:

From nowhere, 'out of the blue'.

Kurungurr Example:

Kuri gaganiny tyikmadi milginy pagu.

Storm clouds are building up out of nowhere.

milmil ... muy

Word Class:

coverb + bodypart

mem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Glisten, twinkle (of stars, liquids, and shiny surfaces).

Kurungurr Example:

Mipiyagany mengari ninggi yemi bang, milmil wimimuy nimbi, nyinnin midadetyerr.

You test cheeky yams by piercing the skin with your fingernail, and if the juice is glistening then you know it's too cheeky (spicy) still.

milmilma

Word Class:

Meaning:

Nit stick, cosmetic stick used for cracking nit eggs, squeezing pimples, scraping sunburned skin.

Kurungurr Example:

Milmilma pagu amimbi ngini yangi pidada?

Have you got a nit stick that you can 'crack my head' with?

milpurr

Word Class:

Meaning:

Devil.

milwadi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Waist.

milwadi dityunggurr

Word Class:

Meaning:

'Short waisted'.

Kurungurr Example:

Ya, kene wuni wur milwadi dityungurr!

Hey who's that with the short waist!

milwadi wawarrfirr

Word Class:

Meaning:

'Big waisted', fat.

Kurungurr Example:

Kene falmi kinyi milwadi wawarrfirr!

Whose this big lady coming up!

mimadi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Edible root (vine).

mimalabuk

Word Class:

Meaning:

Lotus lily corm.

mimanarrk

Word Class:

Meaning:

Kurrajong seeds.

mimanmanba

Word Class:

Meaning:

Fruit of Syzygium subspecies.

mimarrwara

Word Class:

Meaning:

Edible tuber of plant (no common name known).

mimayigafi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Native grape, wild grape.

mimeli

Word Class:

Meaning:

Purple plum.

Kurungurr Example:

Midamuy milalirr miyi kirri tyirrity mibin nimbi wiri tyikmadi. Kiniyewirr yemi wurity malarrgu ngini i ya ket. Yedi tyerrmusye apirri ne ngaramaty wanni kurrkurr waddi yerrkinnimbi yewirr.

The fruit of this tree is great to eat. The fruit hang in clusters and turn black when ripe. The timber is excellent for making the sticks used to poke in the mud for hibernating turtles. In the olden days, men used this timber for making double barbed spears.

mimenem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Billygoat plum.

Kurungurr Example:

Wunu peyi dim, ngan mimenemfirr.

She's sitting over there, at the foot of that Billygoat plum.

mimenmen

Word Class:

Meaning:

Berries, small red berries of Carallia brachiata.

mimeyime

Word Class:

Meaning:

Fruit of Grewia subspecies.

mimukun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Bush tomato.

mimumudi

Wumirri Headword:

mibumudu

Word Class:

Meaning:

Fruit of Tacca leontopetaloides.

mimuy

Word Class:

Meaning:

Long yam.

minde dengini

Word Class:

Meaning:

Lacking substance, boring, of no interest.

Kurungurr Example:

Piktya kinyi yerr minde dengini wurru!

This movie is just boring!

minde fala

Word Class:

Meaning:

No-one, nobody.

minde ga

Wumirri Headword:

minba ga

Word Class:

Meaning:

Lacking any kind of gagu, eg. meatless, moneyless, etc.

Kurungurr Example:

Madiket ngupun fiway gagu minde ga wurru.

I'm starving, I've got no meat.

mindekene

Wumirri Headword:

minbakene

Word Class:

indefinite pronoun

Meaning:

No-one.

Kurungurr Example:

Minde kene dim wuni dedenggurr.

There's not a soul in camp.

mindetyeri

Wumirri Headword:

minbetyeri

Word Class:

Meaning:

Unexpectedly, contrary to expectations.

Kurungurr Example:

Minbenintyeri!

We hadn't expected that!

minembelel

Word Class:

Meaning:

Any plant that is toxic and needs to be treated because it can be eaten.

minenggidirr

Meaning:

Yam, old yam with horizontal offshoots.

minganikide

Wumirri Headword:

minginikide

Word Class:

Meaning:

Which type of plant?, what kind of vegetable?

Kurungurr Example:

Miyi minginikide derrigidi yerim?

What kind of vegetables do you want?

minganime

Word Class:

Meaning:

Edible root (of a small shrub).

minganmimbi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Fruit of Leichardt Pine.

minganni

Word Class:

Meaning:

Wild orange.

mingarapa

Word Class:

Meaning:

Weet bix.

Kurungurr Example:

Prekpity ngini mingarapa ngusum waty.

For breakfast I eat Weetbix.

mingari

Word Class:

Meaning:

Water lily corm.

mingete

Word Class:

Meaning:

Bush tucker of the type that you cook in an antbed oven.

mingugurr

Word Class:

Meaning:

Tamarind fruit.

mingurmadi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Edible phallic head of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius.

mingurrp

Word Class:

Meaning:

Brown seeds used for dyeing merrepen 'sand palm'.

Pages