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04 Jan 03 - 01:21 PM (#858564) Subject: digeridoo etymology From: GUEST,cookieless Margo In Michael Quinion's newsletter this morning he has a bit on the origin of the word digeridoo. Thought you'd find this interesting... 4. Weird Words: Didgeridoo ------------------------------------------------------------------- An Australian Aboriginal musical instrument. What could be more Australian than the droning sound of this native instrument? Yet there's a linguistic mystery about it. Firstly, the name isn't recorded in Australian English until 1919, astonishingly late. And it isn't Aboriginal - native names include "yidali", "illpera" and "bombo", but nothing that sounds even vaguely like "didgeridoo". Lexicographers have traditionally got round this by saying it is imitative, but "didgeridoo" bears scant relation to the noise the instrument makes. Now Dymphna Lonergan, currently working on a PhD thesis about the Irish influence on Australian English, may have solved the problem. Her theory appeared in Australian newspapers six months ago, and is reported in more detail in the current issue of Ozwords, published by the Australian National Dictionary Centre. She points to a possible Irish source in two words "dúdaire" and "dubh". Gaelic spelling is in a class by itself: the words are actually said rather like "doodjerreh" and "doo". The first means "trumpeter"; the second means "black". Put them together (adjective following noun in Gaelic) and you get a phrase that means "black trumpeter" and which sounds remarkably like the instrument's name. Michael Quinion has a website called World Wide Words. You can check it out at http://www.worldwidewords.org Margo |
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04 Jan 03 - 01:32 PM (#858574) Subject: RE: digeridoo etymology From: Noreen Fascinating! |
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04 Jan 03 - 01:39 PM (#858581) Subject: RE: digeridoo etymology From: Lepus Rex There was another thread on this earlier in the year. Click here. :) ---Lepus Rex |
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04 Jan 03 - 01:52 PM (#858587) Subject: RE: digeridoo etymology From: open mike I sent this message to a fellow who makes didg'es interesting.... |
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04 Jan 03 - 02:36 PM (#858613) Subject: RE: digeridoo etymology From: Geoff the Duck I was hoping for a mudcat typing error - the subject of Didgeridoo ENTOMOLOGY - the insects found in and associated with could be a fascinating topic on its own ;¬) Quack! GtD. |
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04 Jan 03 - 06:17 PM (#858779) Subject: RE: digeridoo etymology From: Dead Horse And I thought it was just a penny whistle, allowing for inflation. Wrong again, huh? |
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04 Jan 03 - 06:22 PM (#858783) Subject: RE: digeridoo etymology From: GUEST Yes, Dead Horse Same way you're wrong about Bush and Iraq |
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04 Jan 03 - 07:30 PM (#858812) Subject: RE: digeridoo etymology From: McGrath of Harlow I thought the idea was the Irish words meant "black pipe". As in dúidin, clay pipe. But just try smoking one of those buggers... |