NGAN'GI LANGUAGE

Meaning:

Flowers, especially picked and in a vase.

purrk

Kurungurr Reduplication:

purrpurrk

Word Class:

wupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Clap your hands, applaud someone.

dem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Clap your hands, applaud someone.

dim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Dance (men's style of dancing Wangga and Lirrga).

Kurungurr Example:

Wirrim wirri purrpurrk kana ngini wangga.

That mob will be dancing Wangga now.

dangim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Drip (eg. of a tap).

dim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Clap your hands, applaud.

purrng

Kurungurr Reduplication:

purrngpurrng

Word Class:

wayim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Boil water (eg. for the heat of a fire to boil water).

Kurungurr Example:

Tyup wayim purrngpurrng kana.

The fire's boiling the soup now.

dinem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Boil water (eg. for a person to boil water).

Kurungurr Example:

Kuri yine purrngpurrng ti ngini!

Boil up some water for tea!

dim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Boiling, be boiling

Kurungurr Example:

Kuri dim purrngpurrng kana.

The water's boiling now.

purrpurrk

Word Class:

dangim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Drip, be dripping (of a tap).

purrsyarrsyirr

Word Class:

Meaning:

Split ends (of hair).

purrsyi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Tailbone, coccyx.

purrsyi weti

Word Class:

Meaning:

Small tailbone.

purrugrep

Word Class:

Meaning:

Photos, photographic film.

pusyiket

Word Class:

Meaning:

'Clubs' as one of the four suits in playing cards.

putpul

Word Class:

Meaning:

Football, Australian Rules football code; a football.

Kurungurr Example:

Putpul kene win wirrim?

Who won on the footy?

puttyirrity

Word Class:

Meaning:

Cloaca, protruding anus of a wallaby or kangaroo.

Kurungurr Example:

Nganinyi puttyirrity!

You've got an arsehole like a wallaby!

puty

Kurungurr Reduplication:

putyputy

Word Class:

nagan

Word Class:

Meaning:

Frighten something away.

yenim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Flush birds out (by making noise).

Kurungurr Example:

Ngayi wurru ngagadi putyputy tye.

It was me who flushed the birds out.

puty nukiya

Word Class:

Meaning:

'Gammon' boss, husband, etc. Someone who likes to think they are the boss.

puty... me

Kurungurr Reduplication:

putyputy... me

Word Class:

coverb + bodypart

mem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Create a place, make a 'dreaming' site, bring country into being.

Kurungurr Example:

Gagu burra puty meny me dekinyi.

Ancestral Pelican made this place.

putyin

Word Class:

Meaning:

Poison.

puwulil

Word Class:

wudupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Blustering, blowing back and forth, repeatedly changing direction (of wind).

Kurungurr Example:

Fuke wudupun puwulil.

The wind keeps changing direction.

puy

Word Class:

Meaning:

Keep going! Keep moving!

puypuy

Word Class:

Meaning:

Deep, right down deep inside (eg. of a splinter in flesh).

Kurungurr Example:

Puypuy wirribem.

(The splinter) is right down deep.

raty

Word Class:

Meaning:

Rice.

ratypul

Word Class:

Meaning:

Rifle.

resyibit

Word Class:

Meaning:

Rosary beads.

Kurungurr Example:

Gagu resyibit ngimimbi wa.

I'll get you some rosary beads.

ringimap

Word Class:

mem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Ngayim wunu pagu ringimap meny Tawun nimbi pagu.

Kurungurr Example:

She rang up from Darwin.

risyapulit

Word Class:

Meaning:

Razor blade.

rungrung

Word Class:

Meaning:

Difficult, unhelpful.

Kurungurr Example:

Rungrung wurru wadditye, nyinda nimbi minde ngani tye.

They were being difficult, that's why I didn't go.

rungtyat

Word Class:

Meaning:

Inside out (of shirt), wrong way around (of shoes), 'wrong side' (of marriage).

Kurungurr Example:

Ya tyet yaga, rungtyat wurru yudem wiri!

Hey, you've got your shirt on inside out!

Kurungurr Example:

Epe wurrike wunu, merret wirringgu rungtyat wurru.

But what about those two, they got married 'wrongside'.

runrun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Own, have something of one's own.

Kurungurr Example:

Runrun dem baty dim.

He's got his own.

Kurungurr Example:

Mumba runrun ngangginim.

We'll go our own way.

si

Word Class:

diwen

Word Class:

Meaning:

Skirt around a place, change track to avoid going to a place.

yetyin

Word Class:

Meaning:

Cut yourself.

Kurungurr Example:

Ngagatyin ngindi si.

I cut myself.

sul

Kurungurr Reduplication:

susul

Word Class:

wuden

Word Class:

Meaning:

Move yourself through a gap or narrow space, take a shortcut through someone else's place.

Kurungurr Example:

Ingga! Kinta pefi ngude sul ngini!

Look here! I'm just cutting through your space, OK!

wudupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Poke something through a gap, pass something into a small space (eg. post a letter, insert a disc into a computer, etc.).

Kurungurr Example:

Lete kinyi yudungindi sul pagu.

Can you post this letter for me.

wupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Peel paperbark off a tree (by levering it with a stick).

wudupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Peel paperbark carefully, working it around the trunk to remove it in one piece.

Kurungurr Example:

Wa nguddini susul tye nganni.

We were levering off the paperbark all the way round.

sya

Kurungurr Reduplication:

syasya

Word Class:

wirribem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Spray, flow (of liquid).

wirribem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Urinate, have a pee.

syaga

Word Class:

Meaning:

Edible root.

syalarr

Word Class:

wayim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Warm something/someone up.

syarr

Word Class:

dangim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Catch something, get snagged on wire, etc. Also 'catch a disease'.

Kurungurr Example:

Waya dangingngi syarr.

The barbed wire caught me.

dangim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Scale a fish.

Kurungurr Example:

Ngasyarr ngini angari atyalmerr.

I'm going to scale this barramundi.

syarrisyarri

Word Class:

Meaning:

Kid's game of 'racing'.

syarrpal

Word Class:

wayim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Die down (of flames).

Kurungurr Example:

Kukuk yenggi wa syarrpal ngini.

Wait till the fire dies down.

sye

Word Class:

interjection

Meaning:

Piss off! (to dogs).

syelerriny

Word Class:

Meaning:

Boat, barge.

syetyirr

Wumirri Headword:

syarityirr

Word Class:

adjectival noun

Meaning:

Cheeky bugger, irritating, someone who's attention seeking.

syi

Word Class:

bodypart as coverb

wupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Add water to something, make something wetter.

Kurungurr Example:

Kuri ngupuny syi.

I added some water.

dagan

Word Class:

Meaning:

Siblings, be siblings, call each other brother or sister.

syi baty

Word Class:

wibem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Smell something, get a sniff of something.

Kurungurr Example:

Ya, tyagannawa ngibeny syibaty.

Hey, I can smell something.

dingin

Word Class:

Meaning:

Drown.

Kurungurr Example:

Dingim syibaty.

He drowned.

dem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Drown someone, hold someone or something underwater with your hands till they drown.

Kurungurr Example:

Wunnawa werrim syibaty.

They drowned it over there.

syi ket

Word Class:

wupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Peep around a corner, watch someone sneakily, 'perv' at someone.

dingin

Word Class:

Meaning:

Bite something (of a dog).

Kurungurr Example:

Wuwu dinginy syiket nginde mitykinit.

The dog's bitten the rope off my mosquito net.

dagany

Word Class:

Meaning:

Trip up (eg, on mosi net)

syi kuli

Word Class:

yenim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Stink, smell (lit: something makes your nose run away).

Kurungurr Example:

Yeningngi syikuli!

Oh pooh, that stinks!

syi ngal

Word Class:

dingim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Offend someone, say something to someone that makes them feel put down, put someone's 'nose out of joint'.

Kurungurr Example:

Ngeny syingal, kak pirri kana gaganim.

I put her nose out of joint, she's gone off now.

syi palak

Word Class:

dem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Unfasten, unclip something.

Kurungurr Example:

Pin ngemi syi palak ngini.

I'll unclip this pin.

syi wirr

Word Class:

disen

Word Class:

Meaning:

Go down, abate (of floodwater).

syi wul

Word Class:

wudupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Turn a vehicle towards home.

Kurungurr Example:

Yeninggisi ngudi syiwul ngini.

I'll turn the boat for home.

wudem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Turn yourself towards home, turn your nose for home.

Kurungurr Example:

Gudem syiwul.

It's (the boat) turning back for home.

syi wut

Word Class:

beyin

Word Class:

Meaning:

Mumble under your breath.

Kurungurr Example:

Ya tyagani ngini beyiny syiwut dim?

Well, what's she whispering like that for?

syifirirri

Word Class: