G'day JennyO, Martin Ryan, Malcoln ... Uncle Tom Cobbley and all ...

JennyO said: "I heard some discussion on a thread (don't remember which one) not long ago, about this supposed Gaelic origin of the word didgeridoo, and got the impression from other posts that this was a bit of a myth."

I think it's well covered above. There is no eveidence of the word in Nyungar languages of the didgeridoo's origin ... and (despite cracks about etymologists 'guesswork') the only surving evidence is usually printed accounts. The earlier for didgeridoo (various spellings) all suggest 'imitative' sources ... describing the sounds of the instrument.

It intrigued me that the first written use was from the Franklin Times, in Tasmania ... about as far from the heartland of didgeridoo as you could get and still be in Australia ... but it's always the outsider that comments on what is commonplace to the locals. In this case, our Tasmanian journalist/newspaper proprietor (the Times came from a small shed by the river ... I stood outside it, a few months back!) was talking about the crew on a ship moored at the nearby wharf ... not Nyungar, but Straits Islanders who had picked up didgeridoo from them.

Felipa: I doubt that the first usage even aimed to be "mock" Aboriginal ... it just described the sound ... and the sound eventually described the source.

Regards,

Bob Bolton