There has been a request for GY words for months of the year and for a word for ‘birthday’. Below is some material, mostly from 2000, on months, and a discussion of ‘birthday‘.
Months of the year
Walgett, 16/6/2000
The words below (without -gil) were suggested in June 2000 as names for the months at a meeting of Uncle Ted Fields, John Giacon, John Brown and Tracy Dodd
Principles [2000]:
-to use words for something that happens in or around the month
-to use Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay words, so that a common set of names is arrived at, reducing the complication between the languages
Suggestion [2017]
Just as day names are easier to recognise because they end in ‘day’ (Monday etc.) some month names are easy to recognise because they end in ‘ber’ (September etc.). A suitable ending in Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay could be -gil (cf. gilay ‘moon’). This might be more relevant in GY since the proposed words already have a meaning. On the other hand you may not have talked about gayn.gayn for a while, so there is little chance of confusion between a fruit and the month.
Below a suggested list for discussion.
| English | Suggested names | Derivation; 2000 suggestions |
| January | Gayn.gayn, Gayn.gil | Gayn.gayn – a fruit that is ripe at this time |
| February | Gaaguluu, Gaagulgil, Gaaguluugil | gaaguluu – (bush banana) a fruit that is ripe at this time |
| March | Guwibirr, guwibirrgil | guwibirr – a fruit that is ripe at this time |
| April | Bulawaa, bulawaagil | bulawaa – word for the pair of emus, this is when they pair up |
| May | Guduu, guduugil, gawurragiil | guduu ‘codfish’ or gawurragiil = mythical emu, and emu in the night sky/milky way |
| June | Garriil, Garriilgil, baliyaa, baliyaagil | garriil GR or baliyaa GY ‘cold’ |
| July | Barrgay, barrgaygil | barrgay ‘emu chick’ |
| August | yin.ga, yin.gagil; | yin.ga-gabu; yin.ga ‘crayfish, yabby’ + gabu a variant word for egg; this is the time crayfish breed |
| September | Maalinha, maalinhagil | maalinha – breeze and showers from the south-west |
| October | Guwadhaa, guwadhaagil | guwadhaa ‘quondong’ (a fruit) |
| November | mugiin.gaa, mugiin.gaagil, mugiin.gil | mugiin.gaa ‘sandfly’. Tthese come after floods, which can occur at this time. |
| December | Bambul, bambulgil | bambul ‘native orange’ |
It would be good to have a word for ‘month’ (moon-th). It could be one of the words for ‘moon’: gilay GR and YR, or baaluu YR, or something derived from these. The possibilities are endless: gilaygil, gilaymaal (one moon), gibaa (first bit of words for ‘moon’), gayn.gaa (as in alpha-bet, which comes from the first two Greek letters, alpha and beta).
Do you prefer:
Use of -gil in all month names
Use of -gil in some names
No use of -gil.
Do you prefer one of the suggested words for ‘month’ or do you have another suggestion.
Birthday
The temptation is to go with English – get a word for ‘birth’, a word for ‘day’. Giirr maayu[Yuwaalaraay] Job done. But why use an English pattern? Because that is what we know? Revived GY will have lots that is English, so I prefer to avoid that where possible. What do other ATSI languages use for ‘birthday’. A nice project for someone to find out. If you do please let us know.
What other pattern can we use?
Looking at traditional language dictionaries at http://ausil.org.au/node/3717; 2 of the 3 looked at had no word for ‘birth’ – perhaps not a subject for open discussion – and none had a word for birthday Kriol has ‘bethdei; n. birthday’. So no easy answers there.
Other patterns for ‘Birthday’:
Italian uses comple-anno – something like ‘complete year’. ?like anni-versary ‘year turns’?. French has ‘anniversaire’; German Geburtstag is ‘birth-day’.
GY has no recorded word for ‘birth’ but has gaangay ‘give birth/be born’ [having two meanings raises questions about the accuracy of the information]. Gaangangindaay would probably mean ‘birth’. However adding more will make a very long word.
GY has yaadha ‘day’; gurrubuu ‘year’ gayay ‘turn, intransitive verb’. Gurrubuu comes from gurru ‘circle’ and –buu ‘total’. The GY has developed words for ‘days of the week’, ending in yaay; cf yaadha ‘day’, e.g. Baalaay ‘Monday’ (moonday) from baluu ‘moon’, and the suffix (y)aay ‘day’. Birthday could be gurrubuuyaay ‘year-day’. And gurrubuuyaay gaba or gurrubuuyaay gayaa ‘Happy Birthday’.
Comments, suggestions please.
Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay Guladha 