An Etymology of Australia's Fauna

Some years ago I heard the story of how Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay. As another captain, one James T. Kirk, would do when visiting planets around the Alpha Quadrant years later, Cook was able to make himself understood anywhere in the world by speaking English. (You can almost hear him speaking loudly and slowly in his Yorkshire accent saying "Do you understand?") The idea that the indigenous population of Australia, isolated from the rest of the world for perhaps 30,000 years, understood what Cook and his crew were saying seems fanciful, and yet a story I heard some years ago made me wonder whether the punchline was true.

Cook is chatting away to the locals when he spots an animal bounding along in the distance. "What's that?" he asks. The locals look at one another, shrug and tell him "kangaroo", and he makes a note in his diary "Today I saw a kangaroo." Unfortunately the message from the locals was lost in translation for, instead of them telling him what the creature was called, they had merely said "kan ga roo" or 'I don't know." This etymologist, having heard/told the story again recently, decided to see if this story has any basis in fact and the result produced this post, covering not just the kangaroo but many of the unusually-named fauna of the Australian continent.

Koala: is a European reproduction of the indigenous name, which may be koola, kulla or kula, depending upon the source consulted. This comes from the Dharug word gula or gulamany which suggest 'no drink'. Famously the koala gets all its moisture from the eucalyptus leaves on which it feeds and never needs to drink. At least that is the theory, in recent years koalas have been increasingly reported seeing taking a drink of water. Various things have been blamed, such as heatwaves, deforestation, and bushfires.

Platypus: derived from the Greek, the name was given by Europeans and translates literally as 'flat-footed', which seems odd considering few would see this creature's feet as its defining feature. Note the American idea of the plural being platypi (or is it platypii?), does not work as that would need to be a Latin root. Strictly the British idea of platypusses is accepted, but if we stick with the Greek beginnings this would give the plural as platypodes.

Thylacine: is a modern name from the Greek and correctly is Thylacine Cynocephalus 'the dog headed pouched one'.

Echidna: an interesting name which is most often said to come from the Greek ekhidna meaning 'snake, viper' and said to come from Proto-Indo-European angwhi 'snake, eel'. Whilst the forms may appear very close, to describe an egg-laying mammal (monotreme) with spines akin to a hedgehog as an ophidian seems odd. There have been suggestions that the tongue, used to collect ants and termites, is the 'snake', but this would not be overly easy to recognise from a distance. Another possibility is the Greek ekhinos 'sea urchin;' which is spiny like the hedgehog which it originally was used to describe and was also used to describe 'sharp points'. There is a third idea, for the serpent-nymph of Greek mythology named Echidna was described as 'a beautiful woman in the upper part of the body, but instead of legs and feet she had, from the waist downward, the form of a serpent'. Just how this would be likened to the Australian marsupial, is unclear. Perhaps just throw them all in the hat and pick one.

Quoll: is from an indigenous language, recorded as je-quoll by Joseph Banks, he who accompanied Captain James Cook on his voyage, where it was also recorded as a dhigul, both from the Guugu Yimidhirr language again.

Tasmanian devil: is simple enough, for it is named from the island of Tasmania, itself named after Abel Tasman, the Dutch explorer.

Sugar glider: is simple enough for, as many will know, it is a bit like a flying squirrel in that it glides, and gets it 'sweet' name because it has a predilection for sugary foods.

Wombat: is the European version of the indigenous names of womback or wombar, from the language of the indigenous Darug people, now nearly extinct. Note the collective name for the wombat is a wsidom, and even Sir David Attenborough said the wombat is not known for its intelligence.

Possum: is a shortened form of opossum, itself the Algonquian opassum or 'white dog'.

Dingo: is from the Dharruk language (spoken in the region of Sydney) and means 'tame dog', which is a little odd as the creatures are also known by the Dharruk term warrigal or 'wild dog'.

Dugong: comes from a Visayan word dugung and from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian duyun, all of which do NOT mean, as is so often said, 'the lady of the sea' another description of a mermaid (which also doesn't exist).

Emu: is from the Portuguese ema meaning 'crane, ostrich', and of unknown origins.

Cassowary: is another indigenous name, the Malay kasuari.

Galah: is a parrot named from the Yuwaalaraay language.

Budgerigar: has two possible etymologies: either the Yuwaalaraay word gijrragaa; or the Australian slang boojery 'good' amd gar 'cockatoo'.

Kookaburra: is from the Wiradjuri word guuguubarra which is simply imitative of its call.

Taipan: is derived from the Wik-Mungkan name for an ancestral creator also known as the Rainbow Serpent.

Goanna: is from 'iguana', itself from the Arawakan name for this lizard.

Barramundi: is an indigenous word meaning 'large-scaled river fish'.

Wobbegong: is another name from an indigenous language, this shark resembling a carpet (hence it's a carpet shark) and is a name meaning 'shaggy beard'.

Kangaroo: and finally a look at the creature which started all this. If you thought the "I don't know" story was bad enough, the actual origins are even more confusing. The name comes from the indigenous language known as Guugu Yimidhirr (no, I don't know how to pronounce it either), where gaNurru is said to mean 'large black kangaroo'. Thus if 'kangaroo' means 'large black kangaroo', then 'large black kangaroo' means 'large black kangaroo large black kangaroo' and so on and so forth. Yes, it is confusing and I certainly prefer "I don't know".