Harlan Hague

Is there an Australian or aboriginal term for wizard or "wizard" or "wise
old man"?

Harlan
----
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England's Gardens and the Cotswolds, June 2003,
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AUMike

Hi

I think you may have a bit of trouble finding a specific word, as my understanding is that the language of aboriginals in Australia is very much specific to regions and tribes. Thats no to say that there isn't any common dialect.

For the Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay language of the Kamilaroi people and to Kamilaroi country, northern New South Wales, Australia, the closest word I have seen is 'waayamaa' which means 'old man'.

Try the following link for help on the Aboriginal Languages of Australia.

http://www.dnathan.com/VL/austLang.htm

Regards
Michael

Andrew Roberts

Going from memory, and figures I give are approximate here.... the world has
about 7 distinct language groups ie: english has the same roots as Hindu.
Australia's abororigines had something like 10-15 distinct language groups,
and about 200-250 different languages when Australia was "discovered" Hence
any word you want found from the "aborigine language" is a bit difficult
supply.


"AUMike" wrote in message
news:440979.1034385413@britishexpats-
.com...
    > Originally posted by Harlan Hague:
    > > Is there an Australian or aboriginal term for wizard or "wizard" or
    > > "wise
    > > old man"?
    > >
    > > Harlan
    > > ----
    > >
    > Hi
    > I think you may have a bit of trouble finding a specific word, as my
    > understanding is that the language of aboriginals in Australia is very
    > much specific to regions and tribes. Thats no to say that there isn't
    > any common dialect.
    > For the Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay language of the Kamilaroi people and to
    > Kamilaroi country, northern New South Wales, Australia, the closest word
    > I have seen is 'waayamaa' which means 'old man'.
    > Try the following link for help on the Aboriginal Languages of
    > Australia.
    > http://www.dnathan.com/VL/austLang.h-
    > tm
    > Regards
    > Michael
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Raffi Balmanoukian

in article [email protected], Andrew Roberts at
[email protected] wrote on 10/12/02 12:05 AM:

    > Going from memory, and figures I give are approximate here.... the world has
    > about 7 distinct language groups ie: english has the same roots as Hindu.
    > Australia's abororigines had something like 10-15 distinct language groups,
    > and about 200-250 different languages when Australia was "discovered" Hence
    > any word you want found from the "aborigine language" is a bit difficult
    > supply.

Um...you mean Hindi, right?

The tribes living on the opposite sides of Sydney harbour had languages as
distinct as English and Chinese (at least according to Lonely Planet).
Explorers' journals are filled with examples of learning a few words from
one tribe, traveling for a few miles, and then finding another tribe that
didn't understand a word of what was being said to them. I suspect there are
many, many different words, and variants even between languages depending on
the shades of meaning intended.

Andrew Roberts

Yeah I did mean Hindi. And of course I didn't include the English spoken by
our North American friends who have turned it into a language group of its
own!
Sorry Raffi, how could I resist!


"Raffi Balmanoukian"
wrote in message
news:B9CD-
CF8A.D4D0%[email protected] atico.ca...
    > in article [email protected], Andrew Roberts at
    > [email protected] wrote on 10/12/02 12:05 AM:
    > > Going from memory, and figures I give are approximate here.... the world
has
    > > about 7 distinct language groups ie: english has the same roots as
Hindu.
    > > Australia's abororigines had something like 10-15 distinct language
groups,
    > > and about 200-250 different languages when Australia was "discovered"
Hence
    > > any word you want found from the "aborigine language" is a bit difficult
    > > supply.
    > >
    > >
    > Um...you mean Hindi, right?
    > The tribes living on the opposite sides of Sydney harbour had languages as
    > distinct as English and Chinese (at least according to Lonely Planet).
    > Explorers' journals are filled with examples of learning a few words from
    > one tribe, traveling for a few miles, and then finding another tribe that
    > didn't understand a word of what was being said to them. I suspect there
are
    > many, many different words, and variants even between languages depending
on
    > the shades of meaning intended.

Raffi Balmanoukian

in article [email protected], Andrew Roberts at
[email protected] wrote on 10/12/02 8:36 PM:

    > Yeah I did mean Hindi. And of course I didn't include the English spoken by
    > our North American friends who have turned it into a language group of its
    > own!
    > Sorry Raffi, how could I resist!

The Fosters' "I am Australian" commercial is an overt take-off of the "I am
Canadian" Molson's commercial (http://www.iam.ca).
One line: "I speak
English and French, NOT American."

true nuff.

Tom Hatfield

On Fri, 11 Oct 2002 23:28:30 GMT, "Harlan Hague"
wrote:

    >Is there an Australian or aboriginal term for wizard or "wizard" or "wise
    >old man"?

As others have said, there is not a common language in the Aboriginal
community. However if you find the word 'elder' used, that will be the
closest in each language, since they usually defer major desisions and
knowledge informaiton from the elders of the tribe.

Tom

Peter Harman

The spelling is probably wrong but "Kadicchi Man" may fit the bill, I think
its origin is from around Tennant Creek.

Raffi Balmanoukian wrote in message ...
    >in article [email protected], Andrew Roberts at
    >[email protected] wrote on 10/12/02 12:05 AM:
    >> Going from memory, and figures I give are approximate here.... the world
has
    >> about 7 distinct language groups ie: english has the same roots as Hindu.
    >> Australia's abororigines had something like 10-15 distinct language
groups,
    >> and about 200-250 different languages when Australia was "discovered"
Hence
    >> any word you want found from the "aborigine language" is a bit difficult
    >> supply.
.

Raffi Balmanoukian

in article [email protected], Peter Harman at
[email protected] wrote on 10/13/02 9:37 AM:

    > The spelling is probably wrong but "Kadicchi Man" may fit the bill, I think
    > its origin is from around Tennant Creek.

I heard that term in the centre - it was used in the context of wise man, or
elder - particularly the dudes who used to hang around in the domes of the
Olgas, but not restricted to that.