NGAN'GI LANGUAGE

Membirr etyetye beyi baty wannigi fulirr wirirr yerrkinninmbi yewirr yerrsyenytyi ka. Membirr watypela nimbi beyi baty deme nyin deti wirrme. Wamumu ngini wanniyirri yety. Deme apirrine wirrme waddi. Kala ninggi wuduniwirr pupurity.

Parents used to rub newborn babies with the charcoal from this Milkwood tree. They had to do this with the babies born from white men, to disguise them from the police. The mothers had to do this to hide them.

yerrsyiguri

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Splinter.

yerrsyinge

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

River pandanus.

yerrsyingge

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Nut Tree.

Kurungurr Example:

Yerrsyingge midamuy napa yusyi waty, fepi ninggi yebi du i yebi mata.

To eat the nuts of the Nut Tree, you need to bash them with a rock, and then peel them.

yerrtisyari

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Dead tree, dead branch.

yerrtyagani

Word Class:

indefinite pronoun

Meaning:

Everything.

Kurungurr Example:

Ngatya nayin yedi tyerrakul tye, i gagu, dede, yedi, falmi, i yerrtyagani putyputy meyime yedi.

God spoke and he created animals, country, men and women, everything.

yerrtyarrama

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Something used or borrowed temporarily, a short term thing.

Kurungurr Example:

Yerrtyarrama ngini wurru ngemi baty?

I'll just take this for a day or so, OK?

yerrtyinem

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Bra.

yerrwadi

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Tree species.

yerrwasyanderri

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Hessian bag, potato sack.

Kurungurr Example:

Yerrwasyanderri yebingindi derridu, kala ngannim.

Find me a hessian bag, we're going looking for dyes.

yerrwatypala

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Introduced things, whitefella's stuff.

yerrwerrpurrkultyi

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Evening star.

yerrweyi

Wumirri Headword:

yerrsyewe

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Strichnine tree.

yerrwire

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Woollybutt tree.

yerrwirimbi

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

White gum tree.

yerrwuwu

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Creeping vine species.

yety

Word Class:

coverb

yirripin

Word Class:

verb intr

Meaning:

Afraid, be afraid.

yetyi

Word Class:

kinterm

Meaning:

Child. For a man, yetyi is his own son and daughter. For a woman, yetyi is her brother's son and daughter.

yetyin

Word Class:

simple verb tr

Meaning:

Take or bring someone somewhere, take or bring something along.

Kurungurr Example:

Yawangngi tawun!

Take me into town!

yetytyerrawu

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Chewing tobacco.

yewe

Wumirri Headword:

syewe

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Sea, ocean, saltwater.

yewedirr

Wumirri Headword:

syewedirr

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Seaside, beach.

yeyi

Word Class:

demonstrative

Meaning:

Other, another, a different thing.

yeyininggi

Word Class:

demonstrative

Meaning:

Other way, another way (to do something).

yi

Word Class:

interjection

Meaning:

Yes, yeah.

yiba

Wumirri Headword:

yibe

Word Class:

time noun

Meaning:

Later.

Kurungurr Example:

Epe dangingngi geda, kakkana ngumbudam wul. Ngatya ngayi mem, 'Yiba etye pagu ngumbuda wul'.

But I was feeling sad because we had to go. Then dad said, 'Sometime later we'll return here again'.

Kurungurr Example:

Yibe nga fime pe, wemimbi kerrety pe.

I'll give it to her later, she'll mind it for you.

yidirrmadi

Word Class:

noun

Meaning:

Washaway, eroded ground.

Pages