The new edition of the Australian National Dictionary includes 500 plus words from over 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. It's the first update since 1988 and Chief Editor Dr. Bruce Moore believes the next edition will include even more First Nations words.
New words from Aboriginal languages include: Akudjura (a bush tomato), Bilma (a clapstick), Bunji (a mate), Dayang (a heath mouse), Gubinge (a kind of plum), Jarjum (a baby or young child), Kumanjayi (a substitute name for a person who has died), Migaloo (a white person), Minga (a tourist), Rakali (a water rat), Tjukurpa (the Dreaming), Yidaki (a didgeridoo).
Other terms derived from Indigenous culture include Deadly, Invasion Day, Secret Women’s Business, Songlines and Welcome to Country.
The dictionary gives the definition of a word and also goes on to give detailed quotations showing how the word is used.
Mr. Moore believes that there has been a radical increase in dictionaries and the Australian lexicon of words from Aboriginal languages and Aboriginal cultures.
The dictionary is published by Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand (OUP) and compiled by the Australian National Dictionary Centre at The Australian National University (ANU).
