THE WOMRAT. 



8l 



the common Woddowro termination to the names of parts of 

 the human body : Murrineuk, Moroketnk, head : Gomonok, 

 Kometuk, neck. 



In the last example, regarding horn as the principal 

 syllable of the word neck,* kor and (/our of the two forms seem 

 to correspond ; the sound of the letter n of horn is perhaps 

 blended with the sound of the suffix in gouronok, or perhaps 

 the sound of n is here lost altogether. 



We may, however, more easily recognise this change of 

 etuk in the Woddowro dialect as spoken in the Ballarat district, 

 where, tacked on to the names of parts of the human body, 

 the suffix appears as ettuk, etooh, edook, yook, and nook. 

 Woddowro gives a modification corresponding to edook, (e)nook, 

 in wardong, warwoong (brother). t 



Now, it may be said, if this change, e^uk, eduk, (e)juk, 

 (e)yuk, is not merely the result of chance, but admits of " a 

 simple physiological explanation," we should find similar 

 examples occurring in the language of the native. And so 

 we do. The transition from the hard dental to the soft, and 

 then — the speaker not troubling to push his tongue against 

 his teeth — the gliding to the palatal or spirant, may be traced 

 in words that I find in the Victorian dialects, and now place 

 by the side of the Woddowro suffix. 



Earth. 



Suffix. 



Where. 



Foot. 



Leaf. 



T& 



Da 

 CJm 



Fa 



Tongue. 



Etuk 



Eduk (Enuk) 



(E)/uk 

 (E)Vuk 



White man. 



Winter 



Winrfa 



Winger 



Whiny'ar 



Whinj/a 



Two. 



Tinnan 

 Dinnan 

 C7iinan 

 + I Jinnung 



Water. 



Tar an g 



Jerrang 

 Terr an g 



Tellaug 

 D tell an g ? 

 Chalee 

 Jell an g 



Arnerdeit 

 Anay^eet 

 Amerjig 



Bullaif 

 Bullairf 

 BuW&itch 



Baret 

 Pureitch 



* Tark-kom, a string of reeds for the neck — tark, reed ; kom, neck. 



f If in bang-nuk, he, nuk, is a variant of etuk, the Woddowro singular 

 pronoun he and the plural pronoun bang-etuk, we, are identical. 



I These two examples serve for the interrogative pronoun 'what.' As 

 such, the word also occurs as wing/ar. 



Where ' in the table is the interrogative adverb. 



