Australian Aboriginal enumeration
{{Short description|Counting system used by Australian Aboriginals}}
The Australian Aboriginal counting system was used together with message sticks sent to neighbouring clans to alert them of, or invite them to, corroborees, set-fights, and ball games. Numbers could clarify the day the meeting was to be held (in a number of "moons") and where (the number of camps' distance away). The messenger would have a message "in his mouth" to go along with the message stick.
A common misconception among non-Aboriginals is that Aboriginals did not have a way to count beyond two or three. However, Alfred Howitt, who studied the peoples of southeastern Australia, disproved this in the late nineteenth century,{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} although the myth continues in circulation today.{{Cite web|title=Explainer: how does the Aboriginal numeric system work?|url=https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2017/02/01/explainer--how-does-the-aboriginal-numeric-system-work-.html|access-date=2021-03-15|website=The University of Sydney|language=en-AU}}
The system in the table below is that used by the Wotjobaluk of the Wimmera (Howitt used this tribal name for the language called Wergaia in the AIATSIS language map). Howitt wrote that it was common among nearly all peoples he encountered in the southeast: "Its occurrence in these tribes suggests that it must have been general over a considerable part of Victoria". As can be seen in the following tables, names for numbers were based on body parts, which were counted starting from the little finger. In his manuscripts, Howitt suggests counting commenced on the left hand.
Wotjobaluk counting system
::
| class="wikitable"
!Aboriginal name !literal Translation !Translation !Number |
| Giti mŭnya
|little hand |little finger |1 |
| Gaiŭp mŭnya
|from gaiŭp = one, mŭnya = hand |the Ring finger |2 |
| Marŭng mŭnya
|from marung = the desert pine (Callitris verrucosa). |the middle finger |3 |
| Yolop-yolop mŭnya
|from yolop = to point or aim |index finger |4 |
| Bap mŭnya
|from Bap = mother |the thumb |5 |
| Dart gŭr
|from dart = a hollow, and gur = the forearm |the inside of the wrist |6 |
| Boibŭn
|a small swelling |the forearm |7 |
| Bun-darti
|a hollow, referring to the hollow of the inside of the |inside of elbow |8 |
| Gengen dartchŭk
|from gengen = to tie, and dartchuk = the upper arm. |the biceps |9 |
| Borporŭng
| |the point of the shoulder |10 |
| Jarak-gourn
|from jarak = reed, and gourn = neck, |throat |11 |
| Nerŭp wrembŭl
|from nerŭp = the butt or base of anything, |earlobe |12 |
| Wŭrt wrembŭl''
|from wŭrt = above and also behind, |that part of the head just above |13 |
| Doke doke
|from doka = to move | |14 |
| Det det
|hard |crown of the head |15 |
A similar system but with one more place was described by Howitt for the Wurundjeri, speakers of the Woiwurrung language, in information given to Howitt by the elder William Barak. He makes it clear that once counting has reached "the top of the head. From this place the count follows the equivalents on the other side."
Other languages
| class="wikitable" | ||||||||||
| style="text-align: center;"
! Language ! 0 !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 | ||||||||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| | awilyaba | ambilyuma | abiyakarbiya | abiyarbuwa | amangbala | ememberrkwa | ||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| GumulgalJohn Harris, [http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/collections/exhibitions/ethnomathematics/docs/contents/m0005975_v_a.pdf Australian Aboriginal and Islander mathematics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514055330/http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/collections/exhibitions/ethnomathematics/docs/contents/m0005975_v_a.pdf |date=2014-05-14 }}, Australian Aboriginal Studies, 1987. | | urapon | ukasar | ukasar-urapon | ukasar-ukasar | ukasar-ukasar-urapon | ukasar-ukasar-ukasar | ||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| GurindjiWilliam B. McGregor, (2013). Languages of the Kimberley, Western Australia, Routledge. {{ISBN|9781134396023}} | | yoowarni | garndiwirri | nga-rloo-doo | |||||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| Kokata | | kuma | kutthara | kabu | wima | ngeria | |||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| | na-kudji | boken | danjbik | kunkarrngbakmeng | kunbidkudji | kunbidboken | ||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| NgaanyatjarraStephanie Fryer-Smith, (2002). [http://www.aija.org.au/online/ICABenchbook/BenchbookChapter5.pdf Aboriginal Benchbook for Western Australian courts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012060901/http://www.aija.org.au/online/ICABenchbook/BenchbookChapter5.pdf |date=2013-10-12 }}, Australian Institute of Judicial Administration Incorporated. {{ISBN|1875527427}} | | kutja | kutjarra | marnkurra | kutjarra-kutjarra | kutjarra-marnkurra | |||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| | anyjabugij | wulawa | wulanybaj | wulalwulal | marang-anyjabugij | marang-anyjabugij wula | marang-anyjabugij marang-anyjabugij | |||
| style="text-align: center;"
| Tiwi | | natinga | jirara | jiraterima | jatapinta | punginingita | wamutirara | ||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| Wangka | | kuja | kujarra | kujarra kuju | kujarrakujarra | marakuju | marakujarra | ||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| Yorta Yorta'Yorta Yorta Language Heritage Dictionary', Heather Bowe, Lois Peeler, Sharon Atkinson, copyright 1997, Hawker Brownlow Education, 2005. | | iyung | bultjubul | bultjubul iyung | bultjubul bultjubul | bultjubul bultjubul iyung | bultjubul biyin-n | ||||
| style="text-align: center;"
| Yolngu | | wanggany | marrma' | lurrkun | marrma' marrma' | gong wangany | gong marrma' |
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- Howitt, A.W. 1904. The native tribes of south-east Australia. London: McMillan and Co. Reprinted. 1996. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. pp. 696–699 describe the system in Wotjobaluk, while p700-703 describe the Wurundjeri system.
{{Indigenous Australians}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Aboriginal Enumeration}}