CHAPTER II
THE ALL FATHER, BYAMEE
As throughout the chapters on the customary laws, mysteries, and legends of the Euahlayi, there occur frequent mentions of a superhuman though anthropomorphic being named Byamee (in Kamilaroi and Wirádjuri 'Baiame'), it is necessary to give a preliminary account of the beliefs entertained concerning him. The name Byamee (usually spelled Baiame) occurs in Euahlayi, Kamilaroi, and Wirádjuri; 'the Wirádjuri language is spoken over a greater extent of territory than any other tongue in New South Wales.'[1] The word occurs in the Rev. Mr. Ridley's Gurre Kamilaroi, an illustrated manual of Biblical instruction for the education of the Kamilaroi: Mr. Ridley translated our 'God' by 'Baiame.' He supposed that native term, which he found and did not introduce, to be a derivative from the verb baia, or biai, 'to make.' Literally, however, at least in Euahlayi, the word byamee means 'great one.' In its sense as the name of the All Father it is not supposed to be used by women or by the uninitiated. If it is necessary to speak to them of Byamee, he is called Boyjerh, which means Father, just as in the Theddora tribe the women speak of Darramulun as Papang, 'Father.'[2] Among the Euahlayi both women and the uninitiated use byamee, the adjective for 'great,' in ordinary talk, though the more usual adjective answering to 'great' is boorool, which occurs in Kamilaroi as well as in Euahlayi. The verb baia or biai, to make or shape, whence Mr. Ridley derived Baiame, is not known
- ↑ R. H. Mathews, J. A. I., vol. xxxiv. p. 284.
- ↑ Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 493.
