English Explanatory Dictionary

yarraman

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. horse
name
  1. A locality in the Liverpool Plains council area, central New South Wales, Australia.

Word forms

yarraman yarramans yarramen

Etymology

Uncertain. Suspected to be from an Australian language of coastal New South Wales, but the term was used by white settlers as a pidgin for communicating with the indigenous people and was rapidly adopted into their languages (preceding actual arrival of horses in some cases), making an origin difficult to ascertain. Each may well have believed they were using the other's word! (Reference: R. M. W. Dixon, Australian Aboriginal Words, Oxford University Press, 1990, →ISBN.)

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