For 56 entries in Reuther’s Diyari dictionary there is mention of a place name, especially in Mythology notes concerning the muramura ancestral beings. We have extracted these names from the Dictionary and sorted them alphabetically by the mission spelling of their Diyari name. Where modern pronunciations of the names are known we give them, using the current spelling system for Diyari, plus a reference to the original Dictionary entry and any notes or other contextual comments.
Here are two examples:
The Placenames list presents all these names as individual entries (numbered as nnP), with the same structure and presentation as in the specialist edition. Where locations have been able to be identified by the editor these are given as *Location, and the source of that information is shown as *Location-Source.
Reuther compiled a whole volume on 2,468 place names (Volume VII of The Diari), giving information about their location, and the activities of ancestral beings at or near them. This volume in Scherer’s translation has not been digitised, however McEntee (1998) is an index that includes the placenames in this volume. If a placename in this supplement (based on the Dictionary) occurs in Reuther’s Volume VII, we include a reference to it, based on the index in McEntee (1998). An example is *See: Vol. 7-0021 “Buru-karla” for entry 3P in the image above. Where McEntee includes additional information we provide that as well, for example, entry 4P has *See: Vol. 7-0110 “Dakara-witjari, Ngamini, lit. ‘hard plain-criss-cross’, emus cross plain”. If at some future time Scherer’s translation of Vol. VII is digitised, it may be possible to more directly link this Placenames Supplement to the Placenames volume of the translation.
Note: Reuther’s Vol. VII was used by Henry Hillier in 1904 to compile a map of placenames in the area east of Lake Eyre, however its reliability has been questioned by Jones (2002, 2009), and Hercus (2014).
To go to the Placenames document click here.
To go to all resources click here.