NYUNGAR Words: barang: effective auxiliary

barang crops up a lot. It seems to mean ‘carry’, ‘bring’ and the like.

Australian	respelt	English	Eng JSM	source
“Bâr-rang”	barang	“bring”	carry:	Symmons, Charles [:16:2] [NYUNGAR]
“burrung”	barang	“get; take: and note jinbu, ranga”	carry:	[23] Buller-Murphy [:26:14] [NYUNGAR]
“baroŋ”	barang	“to fetch, to bring, to pick up”	carry:	Bates Grammar [:66:13] [NYUNGAR]
“Barrang”	barang	“Take in the hand”	carry:	Moore 1842 [:163:11] [NYUNGAR]
“barrang”	barang	“bring, to”	carry:	[9] Moore 1884 [:226:2] [NYUNGAR]
“bi-rong”	birang	“carry”	carry:	[16] Hammond [:232:29] [NYUNGAR]
“purrong”	burang	“touch”	touch:	[11] Hassell AA 1894 [?] [:420:6] [NYUNGAR]

But is is also used in combinations, where it seems to have the significance of ‘carry out’, ‘achieve’, or ‘effect’:

“Barrangdedin”	barang didin	“To shut up; to cover up.”	shut:	Moore 1842 [:8:14] [NYUNGAR]
“bur-rang-den-gur”	burang dinGur	“cover, to; to close up”	effect cover:	[4 (b)] Grey [:244:33] [Minang]
“Barrang djinnang”	barang dyinang	“Lift up, to”	examine:	Moore 1842 [:143:33] [NYUNGAR]
“kar-da-bur-rang”	garda burang	“pierce, to; to pass clean through”	part effect:	[4] Grey 1840 [:349:23] [NYUNGAR]
“quadga-burrung”	gwadaga burang	“took”	PAST take:	[23] Buller-Murphy [:419:27] [Dordenup [Wardandi]]
“jinburranga”	dyin baranga	“find; found: and see burning”	find:	[23] Buller-Murphy [:74:36] [NYUNGAR]

The additional items in the above verbal pairs may be assessed in the following examples:

“Di-din”	didin	“close”	shut:	Symmons, Charles [:16:8] [NYUNGAR]
“dee-deen”	didin	“close, to; to stop up”	shut:	[4] Grey 1840 [:237:24] [NYUNGAR]
“den-gur”	dinGur	“cover up, to; to close”	cover:	[4 (b)] Grey [:244:34] [Minang]
“Djin-nâng”	dyinang	“see”	see:	Symmons, Charles [:16:42] [NYUNGAR]
“chinung”	dyinang	“look”	see:	[22] Gray 1987 [:315:28] [NYUNGAR]
“gin-ung”	dyinang	“see, to; to perceive”	see:	[4] Grey 1840 [:371:13] [NYUNGAR]
“kar-da”	garda	“part or portion, a (generally half)”	part:	[4] Grey 1840 [:346:32] [NYUNGAR]
“Karda”	garda	“Portion, or part of a thing”	part:	Moore 1842 [:151:32] [NYUNGAR]
“quadga”	gwadaga	“past; in the past; back”	PAST:	[23] Buller-Murphy [:346:43] [Dordenup [Wardandi]]
“quagget”	gwadyid	“yesterday”	PAST:	[10 (r)] Curr [:450:49] [Balardung]
“{chenn, jinn}”	dyin	“{foot}”	foot:	[13] Rae 1913 [:268:44] [NYUNGAR]
“Jin”	dyin	“As; like.”	like:	Moore 1842 [:50:8] [NYUNGAR]
“jin”	dyin	“stay; staying; stop; stopping: see yuckie”	stay:	[23] Buller-Murphy [:393:25] [Dordenup [Wardandi]]

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Of the above, the ‘shut’ and cover’ examples are relatively straightforward.

‘examine’ is obtained from ‘lifting’ an object, and ‘see’.

‘part effect’, or ‘divide in two’ tenuously give the original translation of ‘pierce’ or ‘pass clean through’ some credibility, although dan is the more common word for ‘pierce’:

“taan”

dan

“pierce, to; to penetrate; to make an openng”

pierce:

[4] Grey 1840 [:349:25] [NYUNGAR]

gwadaga, or words like it, seem to denote past time.

But the last, dyin is the most problematic, and none of the three examples (‘foot’, ‘like’, ‘stay’) seems appropriate. Most often dyin appears to be used as an intensifier, translatable as ‘very’, ‘much’. This, however, is no more likely either. For the time being it defies explanation.

There are numerous other examples of the use of the versatile barang:

“kardo barrang”	gadu barang	“abduct, to”	spouse carry:	[9] Moore 1884 [:198:5] [NYUNGAR]
“kardo burrang”	gadu barang	“carry off a wife by violence, to [to marry]”	spouse carry:	[4] Grey 1840 [:232:52] [NYUNGAR]
“marh-rabarrang”	mara barang	“handle, to”	:	[9] Moore 1884 [:282:13] [NYUNGAR]
“Ngagynbarrang”	ngagan barang	“Purloin, to”	theft effect:	Moore 1842 [:152:22] [NYUNGAR]

gadu is ‘spouse’; mara is ‘hand’ (and is so in languages in all mainland states); while ngangan is to do with ‘theft’.

There is something of a parallel to barang in the Sydney language, Biyal Biyal (BB), in banga:

“Búnga"	banga	”To make”:		Dawes [a:27:0.1] [BB]
“Bünga”	banga	“:To make or do (faire in French)”:		Dawes [b:3:29] [BB]
“Bungí”	banga-yi	“Made”:		Dawes [a:28:20] [BB]
“Ban´g-a”	banga	“To paddle or row”:		Dawes [b:3:1] [BB]
“Bongha”	banga	“Oar or Paddle"	(paddle, to):	Paine, Daniel [42.2:9][BB]
“—bungngulliko”	-ba-ngGa-li-gu	‘… to force, to compel”:		Tkld AWA Key 1850 [21:18] [AWA]

In Biyal Biyal, its sense is ‘to do’, or ‘to make’, thus also ‘to achieve’. It was the word Dawes noted the people used for ‘to row’ (their canoes).

The final example above suggests banga might have also played a similar part in Awabakal just north of the Hawkesbury River.