NGAN'GI LANGUAGE

Meaning:

Grass species.

wurr wirribem dudutyamu

Word Class:

time noun

Meaning:

Season name: based on the speargrass cycle. That time near the end of the wet season when speargrass seed heads are all swollen and hanging heavily.

wurr wirribem filgarri

Word Class:

time noun

Meaning:

Season name: based on the speargrass cycle. That time of year when speargrass stalks are beginning to dry out and turn a reddish colour.

wurra

Word Class:

particle

Meaning:

Hurry, quickly.

Kurungurr Example:

Wurra ngambani ya peyipagu gariny tyip!

Hurry up! The sun's going down now!

Kurungurr Example:

Yaga wurra ngarim fityat!

Quick, I left it somewhere over there!

wurrgurru

Word Class:

Meaning:

Devil, with cat-like claws and a hooked tail.

wurrirr

Word Class:

dem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Move something, place something elsewhere, shift something out of the way.

dim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Shift your position, move to sit somewhere else.

Kurungurr Example:

Mendi pagu yiwi wurrirr!

Move over closer here!

yenim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Bind something up with string, make a net.

wurrmuy

Word Class:

Meaning:

Speargrass seed heads.

wurrurmadi

Word Class:

adjectival noun

Meaning:

Stubborn, determined, strong-willed. Someone who never lets up once they put their mind to something.

wurrurmuy

Word Class:

coverb + bodypart

yenim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Shy, be shy.

Kurungurr Example:

Yenim wurrurmuy wurru!

She's so shy.

wurwalirrpurr

Word Class:

Meaning:

Thin, skinny woman.

wurwamumu

Word Class:

Meaning:

Policewoman.

Kurungurr Example:

Wurwamumu kana din plitytesyin kinyi.

There's a policewoman at this police station.

wurwerrtyi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Girl who is just developing breasts.

wurwetimuy

Wumirri Headword:

wurwedimuy

Word Class:

Meaning:

Little girl.

Kurungurr Example:

Wurwetimuy ngayi ngini ngupungnge fifili ngaganim.

I've been searching around for my little girl.

wuryedi tyityipi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Promiscuous woman, a woman who has had many men.

wuryenim man

Word Class:

Meaning:

Baby girl that's just learnt to crawl.

wuryenin leli

Word Class:

Meaning:

Baby that's just learnt to walk.

wuryeninggisyi

Wumirri Headword:

wurkeninggisyi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Girl whose breasts are just beginning to grow, with just the nipples swollen.

wuryikayi

Word Class:

kinterm

Meaning:

Daughter, my daughter.

wuryiki

Word Class:

kinterm

Meaning:

Daughter. A woman calls her own daughter wuryiki. A man calls his sister's daughter wuryiki. Also great grandmother.

wuryin'gini

Word Class:

Meaning:

New mother, a mother with her first child.

wusye

Word Class:

Meaning:

Hairbelt, a traditional belt of woven hair worn around the waist.

wut

Word Class:

mem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Heavy, be heavy.

Kurungurr Example:

Warrgadi kinyi wut meng ngindi.

This bag is too heavy for me.

wutitmi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Heavy.

Kurungurr Example:

Aya kinyi wutitmi wurru!

Hey, this is too heavy!

wuty

Kurungurr Reduplication:

wutyit

Word Class:

yenim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Pour out (of liquid), spill, be leaking.

Kurungurr Example:

Ya, kuri yaga yaganim wuty!

Hey, your beers spilling!

wupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Throw water away, discard liquid.

Kurungurr Example:

Ngu wuty ngini.

I'm going to throw it away.

wupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Spread things around, distribute things over an area (eg. deal out playing cards, arrange rocks over the base of a ground oven).

Kurungurr Example:

Ngete yu wutyity yenggi nide!

Spread the hot rocks around the fire base!

wudupun

Word Class:

Meaning:

Splash liquid out of a container because you are moving with it. (eg. walk along with a full bucket of water, slopping it out as you go).

yirripin

Word Class:

Meaning:

Go along deliberately spilling something.

Kurungurr Example:

Nelen yirrini wutyit tye tyiminy.

He was pouring out the cement for the road.

dim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Splash water out.

wuwu

Meaning:

Splash the surface of the water - fish only, indicates fish swirling below surface.

Kurungurr Example:

Aya tyagannawa dim wuwu?

Hey what's that splashing there?

yaga

Word Class:

demonstrative

Meaning:

That, that one there. An anaphoric demonstrative standing for something already mentioned.

Kurungurr Example:

Kanbi yaga minbe merrendi ganytyawam eplen nide, nimbi gani lala ngarapa wurru.

You can't take that didjeridu onto the plane, it's too fragile, it might split.

yagama

Word Class:

Meaning:

Woomera. A kind of small woomera used for throwing long bamboo-shafted spears.

yagateyirre

Word Class:

place noun

Meaning:

Back there, back in that place.

Kurungurr Example:

Adetyerr kide? Yagatayirre ngaganim pirr.

Where's the bait? Oh, I've left it back there.

yakarra

Word Class:

interjection

Meaning:

Poor thing! (an exclamation of sympathy on hearing bad news).

Kurungurr Example:

Yakarra!

Poor thing!

yakay

Word Class:

interjection

Meaning:

Look out !, Ouch !, Shit !

yanggarrmada

Word Class:

Meaning:

Mermaid, freshwater mermaids that live in creeks.

Yara

Word Class:

placename

yarrawul

Word Class:

dim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Speared, be speared, have something piercing you.

Kurungurr Example:

Ngirim yerrawul.

I've got a spear in me.

yenim

Word Class:

Meaning:

Speared, be speared, move along with a spear stuck in you.

wibem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Talk or sing non-stop (talk for hours, sing all night, etc).

yawul

Word Class:

Meaning:

Spear (this is a generic term for any type of bamboo-shafted spear).

Kurungurr Example:

Kultyinimbi wawukume yawul ninggi warrim pawal.

Yesterday one man was speared with a bamboo spear.

Kurungurr Example:

Kultyinimbi wawunggume yawul ninggi warriny pawal.

yeddininy

Word Class:

Meaning:

Sandalwood tree.

yedi

Wumirri Headword:

mipurr

Word Class:

Meaning:

Male, of humans and animals.

Kurungurr Example:

Emenggin, mipurr, danguru wagarri dem baty.

A goanna, a male one, has two penises.

yedi geme

Wumirri Headword:

mipurr eme

Word Class:

Meaning:

Kidney-fat stealer, sorcerer.

yedi wuti

Wumirri Headword:

wangurbak

Word Class:

Meaning:

Uncircumcised boy.

yeleli

Word Class:

dagam

Word Class:

Meaning:

Run.

yeli

Word Class:

dagam

Word Class:

Meaning:

Walk.

yeliyi

Word Class:

Meaning:

Wax from the honey of wugurruk and dula bees.

yelmarrawuk

Word Class:

Meaning:

Tree species. CHECK

yelsyen

Word Class:

Meaning:

Tree species. see book CHECK

Yembiying

Word Class:

placename

yen'gi

Word Class:

dem

Word Class:

Meaning:

Explain something to someone. Give someone something to think about. Put an idea in someone's mind.

Kurungurr Example:

Yeyi ninggi ngan'gi demewirr yen'gi yedi, waddine werrtyeri.

He explained it to the message, and the other mob listened to him.

dem

Word Class: