To: Department of Linguistics
University of Melbourne Australia

Subject: Origin of 'jumbuck' as used to mean 'sheep'

G'day Peter

Researching for a discussion thread at http://www.mudcat.org/ has led me to you...

We were discussing the origin and meanings of the words used in Waltzing Matilda,
including jumbuck, meaning sheep, and found two references in online dictionaries
( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jumbucks & http://www.answers.com/topic/jumbuck )
stating that jumbuck was a word of possible Kamilaroi origin.

I could not find it listed in your on-line Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay Dictionary.
at http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AborigPages/LANG/GAMDICT/GAMDICTF.HTM

The word for cloud there is listed as yuru.

I have found references to:
junbuc jimbuc jimba, jombock, dombock, dumbog
meaning: white mist preceding a shower

I had previously heard this expressed as
small white fluffy cloud.

Can you provide opinion on this please?

The full thread is here:
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=28379

Please feel free to join the discussion, or reply to me direct if you prefer.

Cheers

aussiebloke
Darwin NT