Austral English Part 294

"He took His axe, and shaped with boughs and wattle-forks A wurley, fashioned like a bushman's roof."

X

Xanthorrhoea, n. scientific name for a genus of Australian plants, N.O. Liliaceae, having thick palm-like trunks. They exude a yellow resin.

(Grk. Xanthos, yellow, and rhoia, a flow, sc. of the resin.) They are called Black Boys and Gra.s.s-trees (q.v.).

Y

Yabber, n. Used for the talk of the aborigines.

Some think it is the English word jabber, with the first letter p.r.o.nounced as in German; but it is p.r.o.nounced by the aborigines yabba, without a final r. Ya is an aboriginal stem, meaning to speak. In the Kabi dialect, yaman is to speak: in the Wiradhuri, yarra.

1874. M. K. Beveridge, `Lost Life,' pt. iii. p. 37:

"I marked Much yabber that I did not know."

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 28:

"Longing to fire a volley of blacks' yabber across a London dinner-table."

1886. R. Henty, `Australiana,' p. 23:

"The volleys of abuse and `yabber yabber' they would then utter would have raised the envy of the greatest `Mrs. Moriarty' in the Billingsgate fishmarket."

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 55:

"Is it French or Queensland blacks' yabber? Blest if I understand a word of it."

Yabber, v. intr. (See noun.)

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 19:

"They yabbered unsuspiciously to each other."

1887. J. Farrell, `How he died,' p. 126:

"He's yabbering some sort of stuff in his sleep."

Yabby, n. properly Yappee, aboriginal name for a small crayfish found in water-holes in many parts of Australia, Astacopsis bicarinatus. The Rev. F. A.

Hagenauer gives Yappy, in `Curr's Australian Race,'

vol. iii. p. 554, as a Gippsland word. Such variants as the following occur--Yappitch, kapich, yabbechi, yaabity. The distinction between the thin and thick consonants is usually uncertain.

1894. `The Argus,' Oct. 6, p. 11, col. 2:

"In the case of small crayfish, called `yabbies,' ... these may be found all over Australia, both in large and small lagoons. These creatures, whilst nearing a drought, and as the supply of water is about to fail, burrow deeply in the beds of the lagoons, water-holes, or swamps, piling up the excavations on the surface over their holes, which I take, amongst other reasons, to be a provision against excessive heat."

1897. `The Australasian,' Jan. 30, p. 224, col. 4:

"The bait used is `yabby,' a small crayfish found in the sand on the beach at low tide. The getting of the bait itself is very diverting. The yabbies are most prized by fish and fishermen, and the most difficult to obtain. The game is very shy, and the hunter, when he has found the burrow, has to dig rapidly to overtake it, for the yabby retires with marvellous rapidity, and often half a dozen lifts of wet sand have to be made before he is captured. There is no time to be lost. In quite twenty-five per cent. of the chases the yabbies get away through flooding and collapse of the hole."

Yakka, v. frequently used in Queensland bush-towns.

"You yacka wood? Mine, give 'im tixpence;"--a sentence often uttered by housewives. It is given by the Rev. W. Ridley, in his `Kamilaroi, and other Australian Languages,' p. 86, as the Turrubul (Brisbane) term for work, probably cognate with yugari, make, same dialect, and yengga, make, Kabi dialect, Queensland. It is used primarily for doing work of any kind, and only by English modification (due to "hack") for cut. The spelling yacker is to be avoided, as the final r is not heard in the native p.r.o.nunciation.

Yam, n. a West Australian tuber, Dioscorea hastifolia, Ness., N.O. Dioscorideae. "One of the hardiest of the Yams. The tubers are largely consumed by the local aborigines for food; it is the only plant on which they bestow any kind of cultivation." (Mueller, apud Maiden, p. 22.)

Yam, Long, n. a tuber, Discorea transversa, R. Br., N.O. Dioscorideae. "The small tubers are eaten by the aborigines without any preparation."

(Thozet, apud Maiden, p. 23.)

Yam, Native, n. a tuber, Ipomaea spp., N.O. Convolvulaceae. The tubers are sometimes eaten by the aboriginals.

Yam, Round, n. i.q. Burdekin Vine, under Vine.

Yam-stick, n. See quotation 1882, Tolmer.

1863. M. K. Beveridge, `Gatherings,' p. 27.

"One leg's thin as Lierah's yamstick."

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 195:

"Behind the pair stands the boy's mother holding her `yam-stick' erect, resting on the ground."

1882. A. Tolmer, `Reminiscences,' vol. ii. p. 101:

"The natives dig these roots with the yam-stick, an indispensable implement with them made of hard wood, about three feet in length, thick at one end and edged; it is likewise used amongst the aboriginal tribes of South Australia, like the waddy, as a weapon of offence."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' c. iii. p. 31:

"Why, ole Nanny fight you any day with a yam-stick."

Yama, n. aboriginal name for a tree; probably a variant of Yarrah (q.v.).

1838. T. L. Mitch.e.l.l, `Three Expeditions,' vol. ii. p. 54:

"The `Yama,' a species of the eucalyptus inhabiting the immediate banks, grew here, as on the Darling, to a gigantic size... . The `yama' is certainly a pleasing object, in various respects; its shining bark and lofty height inform the traveller at a distance of the presence of water; or at least the bed of a river or lake."

Yan Yean, n. the reservoir from which Melbourne obtains its water supply: hence commonly used for water from the tap.

1871. Dogberry Dingo, `Australian Rhymes and jingles,' p. 8:

"O horror! What is this I find?

The Yan Yean is turned off."