Austral English Part 189

Paddy Lucerne, n. i.q. Queensland Hemp.

See under Hemp.

Paddymelon, n. the name of a small Wallaby (q.v.), Macropus thetidis, Less. It is certainly a corruption of an aboriginal name, and is spelt variously pademelon, padmelon, and melon simply.

(See Melon-holes.) This word is perhaps the best instance in Australia of the law of Hobson-Jobson, by which a strange word is fitted into a language, a.s.suming a likeness to existing words without any regard to the sense. The Sydney name for kangaroo was patagorang. See early quotations.

This word seems to give the first half of the modern word.

Pata, or pada, was the generic name: mella an adjective denoting the species. Paddymalla (1827) marks an intermediate stage, when one-half of the word had been anglicised. At Jervis Bay, New South Wales, the word potalemon was used for a kangaroo.

1793. J. Hunter, `Voyage,' p. 547:

"The pattagorang and baggaray frequently supplied our colonists with fresh meals, and Governor Phillip had three young ones, which were likely to live: he has not the least doubt but these animals are formed in the false belly."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 548:

"The pat-ta-go-rang or kangooroo was (bood-yer-re) good, and they ate it whenever they were fortunate enough to kill one."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i.

p. 310:

"The wallabee and paddymalla grow to about sixty pounds each."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 212:

"Had hunted down a paddymelon (a very small species of kangaroo, which is found in the long gra.s.s and thick brushes)."

1845. Clement Hodgkinson, `Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay,' p. 45:

"The brush-kangaroos or pademellas were thus gradually enclosed."

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 47:

"A small species of the kangaroo tribe, called by the sealers paddymelon, is found on Philip Island, while none have been seen on French Island."

1851. J. Henderson, `Excursions in New South Wales,' vol. ii.

p. 129:

"The small kind of kangaroo, however, called by the natives `Paddy Melon,' and which inhabits the dense brushes or jungles, forms a more frequent, and more easily obtained article of food."

1863. M. K. Beveridge, `Gatherings,' p. 41:

"An ap.r.o.n made from skin of Paddie-Melon."

1863. B. A. Heywood, `Vacation Tour at the Antipodes,'

p. 107:

"In the scrub beyond, numbers of a small kind of kangaroo called `Paddy- Mellans,' resort."

[Footnote] "I cannot guarantee the spelling."

1888. Ca.s.sell's' Picturesque Australasia,' vol. ii. p. 90:

"The kangaroo and his relatives, the wallaby and the paddymelon."

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Science,' p. 62:

"Onychogale fraenatus and its ally O. lunatus.

Mr. Le Souef reports that the former are fairly numerous in the Mallee country to the north-west of the Colony, and are there known as Pademelon." [This seems to be only a local use.]

1893. J. L. Purves, Q.C., in `The Argus,' Dec. 14, p. 9, col. 7:

"On either side is a forest, the haunt of wombats and tree-bears, and a few paddymelons."

Paddymelon-Stick, n. a stick used by the aborigines for knocking paddymelons (q.v.) on the head.

1851. J. Henderson, `Excursions in New South Wales,' vol.

ii. p. 129:

"These are hunted in the brushes and killed with paddy mellun sticks with which they are knocked down. These sticks are about 2 feet long and an inch or less in diameter."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i.

p. 56:

"Nulla-mullahs, paddy-melon sticks, boomerangs, tomahawks, and heelimen or shields lay about in every direction."

Pah, n. i.q. Pa (q.v.).

Pake, n. Maori name for a coa.r.s.e mat used against rain. A sack thrown over the shoulders is called by the settlers a Pake.

Pakeha, n. Maori word for a white man. The word is three syllables, with even accent on all. A Pakeha Maori is an Englishman who lives as a Maori with the Maoris.

Mr. Tregear, in his `Maori Comparative Dictionary,'

s.v. Pakepakeha, says: "Mr. John White [author of `Ancient History of the Maoris'] considers that pakeha, a foreigner, an European, originally meant `fairy,' and states that on the white men first landing sugar was called `fairy-sand,' etc." Williams' `Maori Dictionary' (4th edit.) gives, "a foreigner: probably from pakepakeha, imaginary beings of evil influence, more commonly known as patupaiarehe, said to be like men with fair skins."

Some express this idea by "fairy." Another explanation is that the word is a corruption of the coa.r.s.e English word, said to have been described by Dr. Johnson (though not in his dictionary), as "a term of endearment amongst sailors." The first a in Pakeha had something of the u sound.

The sailors' word would have been introduced to New Zealand by whalers in the early part of the nineteenth century.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand'

(Church Missionary Society), p. 187:

"Pakeha, s. an European; a white man."

1832. A. Earle, `Narrative of Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand,' p. 146:

"The white taboo'd day, when the packeahs (or white men) put on clean clothes and leave off work" [sc. Sunday].

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' c. i.

p. 73:

"We do not want the missionaries from the Bay of Islands, they are pakeha maori, or whites who have become natives."

1854. W. Golder, `Pigeons' Parliament,' canto iii. p. 44: