Reconstruction:Proto-Pama-Nyungan/nguku

This Proto-Pama-Nyungan entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Pama-Nyungan

Alternative forms

• *nguki

Etymology

Compare Proto-Trans-New Guinea *nok (“water”).

Noun

*nguku

1. water

Descendants

• Ayabadhu (Yintyingka): ngoki (“water”)
• Baagandji: ngugu (“water”)
• → Garawa: nguwu (“water”)
• → Kayardild: nguku (“water”)
• Kuku-Uwanh: ngaka (“water”)
• Kalkatungu: kuu (“water”)
• Kuuk Thaayorre: ngok (“water”)
• → Lardil: nguka (“water; year”)
• → Mangarayi: nguku (“water”)
• Mudburra: nguku (“water”)
• Ngarrindjeri: nguk (“water”)
• Nyunga: nguk (“honey”)
• Wangkumara: nguku (“river”), also possibly ngaka (“water”)
• Warlpiri: nguku (“water”)
• Wik-Mungkan: ngak (“water”)
• Wik-Ngathana: ngak (“water”)
• → Yangkaal: nguku (“water”)
• Yindjilandji: nguka (“water”)

Further reading

• Alpher, Barry (2004), Proto-Pama-Nyungan etyma, in Claire Bowern, Harold James Koch, Australian Languages: Classification and the Comparative Method →ISBN