Page:Aboriginesofvictoria02.djvu/21

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LANGUAGE.
5

educated) that the natives of Australia are acquainted with the secrets of Freemasonry.

Mr. Samuel Bennett, in his valuable work on Australian Discovery and Colonization, gives some words of the Australian tongue which in sound and meaning are allied to words used by the Aryan race. They are as follows:—

Gin or Gun, a woman; Greek, γυνη (guné); and derivative words in English, such as generate, generation, and the like.

Joen, a man; Persian, juen; latin, juven-is.

Gibber, Kibba, or Kepa, a rock; Arab, kaba; Moorish, giber, as in Gibraltar; Hebrew, kefas.

Cobbera or Cobra, the head; English, cob; Spanish, cobra; German, kopf.

Tiora, land or country; Latin, terra; French, terre; English, territory.

Hieleman, a shield; Saxon, heilan; English, helm or helmet (a little shield for the head).

Moray or Murry, great, large, or much; Celtic, mor or more; English, more, the comparative of much.

Gnara, a knot or tangle; English, gnarled (full of knots).

Kiradjee, a doctor; Greek, χειρουργος; Persian, khoajih; English, surgeon; Old English (obsolete), chirurgeon.

Cabohn, good, true, great. Words of the same or similar meaning, of which "bon" is the root, are found in most of the European (Latin) languages.

Yarra, flowing; Wallo-yarra, the beard (hair flowing from the chin). The names of several British rivers, such as the Yare, the Yarrow, and others, as well as many Australian streams, as the Yarra-yarra (flowing-flowing), seem to have had a common origin. The word "hair" is perhaps another form of the same word; as well as "arrow," the bolt shot from a bow.

Mar-rey, wet; Mer or Mar, water. This root occurs in the names of numbers of waters, streams, and rivers in Australia, as well as in Europe; in the latter generally applied to the sea or a large body of water, as in Boulogne-sur-mer ; Weston-super-mare; Windermere, &c.; Hebrew or Phœnician, mara; Latin, mare, the sea or a great river.

Bo'ye or Bogy, a ghost or an object of terror; English, bogy, bugaboo.

Kalama, a reed, the rod or staff of a spear; Greek, καλαμος; Latin, calamus; Hindostanne, callum.

Gunya, a place for shelter; Persian or Arabic, gunn.

Mah, to strike; Hindostanne, mah.

Pilar, a spear; Latin, pilum (plural, pila).

Pidna, the foot; Latin, ped; and English derivative words, as pedestrian.

Mr. Bennett says that "many other words might be added which afford traces of resemblance between the languages of the Australian Aboriginal tribes and the tongues spoken by the various Aryan nations. But whether