1802.
January.
more so, indeed, than our language was to them. Several English words they pronounced perfectly; whilst of such where an f or an s entered, they could make but little: Finger, was pronounced bing-gah, ship, yip; and of King George, they made Ken Jag-ger. In the difficulty of pronouncing the f and s, they resemble the Port-Jackson natives; and the word used by them in calling to a distance, cau-wah! (come here,) is nearly similar to cow-ee! The word also to express eye, is nearly the same. But in the following table, which contains all the words that, with any certainty, I was able to collect, the most essential differences will be found, both from the Port-Jackson language, and from that of the south end of Van Diemen's Land; and the words collected by Captain Cook at Endeavour River bear no resemblance to any of them.
| English. | K. George's Sound. | Port Jackson.[1] | Van Diemen's Land.[2] |
| Head Hair Nose Cheek, or beard Teeth Ear Lips Throat Nipple Belly Posteriors Thigh Knee Leg Foot The sun |
Kaāt Kaat-joū Mo-il Ny-a-nūk Yea-al Du-ong Ur-luk Wurt Bpep Ko-būl Wa-la-kah Dtou-al Wo-nat Maāt Jaān Djaāt |
Ca-ber-ra De-war-ra No-gro Yar-rin Da-ra Go-ray Wil-ling Cad-le-an Na-bung Bar-rong Boong Go-rook Dar-ra Ma-no-e Co-ing |
Pélilogueni Mugui (Muidge, Cook) Canguiné Pégui or Canan (Kamy, C.) Vaigui (Koygee, Cook) Mogudé lia Lomangui Nuné Ronga Lerai Peré Panuberé |
- ↑ From Collins' Account of the English colony in New South Wales, Vol. I. p. 610-611.
- ↑ Voyage de D'Entrecasteaux, par M. de Rossel. Tome I. p. 552 et seq. These words are written after the French pronunciation of the letters.
