There is a sequence b–d–n… in the Tasmanian language records. There are many examples of it.
Little
Here are a few such records:
Australian | respelt | English | EngJSM | source |
"bodenevoued" | budinibuwid | "{little}" | little | Plomley gm [VDA:396:15],[NE],[Tas],[1829] |
"badany" | bada-ni | "child" | child | Plomley jj [A610.jj:182:9] [OyB] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"pyāthĭnnĕ pŭngōothĕnĕh lookoothinninneh" | bayaDina bunguDina luguDinina | "the little opossum ringtailed opossum" | little possum xxx [SONG] | Plomley gww [B709:54:13] [] [Tas] [c.1838] |
"[pyāthĭnnĕ [B709,pyāthĭnnĕh],...]" | baya-Dina | "[the little opossum ringtailed opossum]" | little [SONG] | Plomley gww [B709:54:13.1] [] [Tas] [c.1838] |
"[[Kukkana lengangya nunty pateinuyero ...]]" | badinuyiru | "[Whisper, speak low, let nobody hear.]" |
| Plomley JMill [A610.mj:38:5.14] [] [Tas] [1857] |
Fig. 1 ‘little’
From these it would seem that badani / budini and the like might signify ‘little’.
budinibuwid is ‘little’.
badani is ‘child’, and a child is something little.
bayaDini bunguDini luguDinini appears to be ‘little possum xxx’.
And there is confirmation that luguDinini in this phrase means ‘possum’:
"lookoothinninneh" | lugu-Di-nina | "the ringtailed opossum" | possum ringtailed | Plomley back [B730:44:20.2] [] [Tas] [c.1838] |
Fig. 2 ‘ringtailed possum’
From this it would seem that badani, or words of the b–d–n… sequence, means ‘little.
Even the 5th and last record in Fig. 1 above lends weight to the idea: badinuyiru might mean the little voice of whispering. However, the records did not bear this idea out.
Rat kangaroo
The ‘little’ hypothesis would appear to be supported, at first sight’ by ‘rat kangaroo’:
"nynabythinna roobrynna" | nanabaDina rubrana | "the little kangaroo rat" | rat kangaroo little | Plomley back [B730:44:16.2] [] [Tas] [c.1838] |
"[nynabythinna roobrynna]" | nana-ba-Dina | "the little kangaroo rat" | rat kangaroo | Plomley back [B730:44:16.21] [] [Tas] [c.1838] |
"nynabathynna" | ninabaDina | "the little kangaroo" | rat kangaroo | Plomley back [B730:44:11.2] [] [Tas] [c.1838] |
"reprenana" | ribri-nana | "[kangaroo rat]" | rat kangaroo | Plomley jj [A610.jj:303:31] [OyB] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"nẙnābẙthīnnĕh trīngĕhgūggĕrrĕh pythinneh [B707,pyathinneh]" | ninabiDina,dringa,gugira,bayaDina | "the,little,kangaroo,,little,joey,,the,bandicoot" | ,[SONG], | Plomley,gww,[B709:54:9],[],[Tas],[c.1838] |
Fig. 3 ‘rat kangaroo’
nanabaDina is, apparently, ‘little rat kangaroo’, suggesting that badina is ‘little’, and thus that nana might be ‘rat kangaroo’.
So in which case, in the top record, what is rubrana? The 4th record in Fig. 3 suggests that rubrana or ribrinana itself means ‘rat kangaroo’. A search for nina or nana yielded nothing to indicate that nana / nina meant ‘rat kangaroo’.
Birds
Further b–d–n… records pop up in the Tasmanian Bayala database, all to do with birds:
"par.teen.ner" | badi-na | "egg" | egg | Plomley gar [:162:22] [SE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"pur.rer.tee.ner" | bura-dina | "swan egg" | egg [of swan] | Plomley gar [:162:27] [SE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"tro.bid.der.ner (x)" | drubidana | "[swan]" | swan | Plomley gar [:159:8] [OyB] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"nar.ro.pat.ter.ne" | narubadani | "[swan]" | swan | Plomley gar [:158:31] [Wst] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"row.pat.ter.ner" | rabadana | "[swan]" | swan | Plomley gar [:159:6] [] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"ro.pet.ten.er" | rubi-dina | "[swan]" | swan | Plomley cr [:159:7] [NE] [Tas] [c.1838] |
"lo.mol.pit.ten.ner" | lumulbidina | "duck" | duck | Plomley gar [:145:25] [NE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"mãrlĕrpõõtĕnăr" | malabudina | "poultry" | bird | Plomley sn [:153:5],[],[Tas],[1828?] |
"no.pe.tan.ner" | nubidana | "morepork" | owl [boobook] | Plomley gar [:153:37] [OyB] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"padănawoonta" | badanawunda | "emu" | emu | Plomley sc [A597sct:147:40],[OyB],[Tas],[1826] |
Fig. 4 ‘birds’
The first of this new set of records in Fig. 4 tends to support the ‘little’ theory: badina means ‘egg’, and eggs are little. A swan’s egg, buradina, is morphologically close, and might also be regarded as ‘little’, thus justifying a loose or mis-translation of ‘little’ as ‘egg’.
But the ‘little’ hypothesis is virtually exploded anew when it is noticed that most of the other bird records end in the the b–d–n… sequence. They can hardly all mean ‘little’.
The last, badanawunda, ‘emu’, begins with the b–d–n… sequence.
From this one might reasonably ask: could badana be something to do with fauna?
Fauna
Support for the fauna concept is provided by the following group of records:
"pare.ten.ner" | badi-na | "[bandicoot]" | bandicoot | Plomley gar [:292:15] [NE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"pyathinna" | biya-Dina | "the bandicoot" | bandicoot | Plomley back [B730:44:16.1] [] [Tas] [c.1838] |
"[[... nabehthinninna treganeh]]" | naba-Di-nina | "[the buck or boomer (of the forester kangaroo)]" | kangaroo [forester] | Plomley back [B730:44:8.4] [] [Tas] [c.1838] |
"riengena poatina" | ringina budina | "den (of wild animals)" |
| Plomley mj [A610.mj:255:29] [SE] [Tas] [1857] |
"par.tan.ne" | bada-ni | "white man" | whiteman | Plomley gar [:319:14] [Wst] [Tas] [c.1835] |
"lo.bi.dun" | lubi-du-n | "boy" | boy | Plomley cr [:174:17] [Nth] [Tas] [c.1838] |
Fig. 5’ fauna’
Bandicoot, respelt badina or bayaDina, is grouped with ‘kangaroo’ nabiDinina in this new b–d–n… collection. ‘Fauna’ begins to appear a real possibility.
A ‘den’ in the 4th record in Fig. 5 is a home for fauna, the details of this particular record being:
"riengeena" | ringi-na | "crevice or fissure in rocks" | crevice | Plomley mj [A610.mj:255:31] [SE] [Tas] [1857] |
"poatina" | budi-na | "cavern" | cave | Plomley mj [A610.mj:255:27] [SE] [Tas] [1857] |
Fig. 6 ‘den’
budina in Fig. 6, meaning ‘cave’, is is not strictly fauna, although it is certainly fauna associated, in the meaning of ‘den’.
The last two records of Fig.5 ‘fauna’ are other mammals, ‘whiteman’ and ‘boy’.
And after all this we are not able confidently to assert a meaning for the b–d–n… sequence.
One final example lends no further help.
Flora
There is only one flora example so far identified in the database:
"teen.put.ten.ner" | dinbudina | "tea tree" | tea-tree | Plomley gar [:443:2] [NE] [Tas] [c.1835] |
Fig. 7 ‘flora’
dinbudina, ‘tea-tree’ completes this ultimately inconclusive search for a significance of the b–d–n… sequence.
Perhaps a reader of this tentative essay might be able to suggest something enlightening.
Jeremy Steele
30 June 2015
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