Glossary of Native Terms Used

The Native Tribes of North Central Australia, by Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen [1899], at sacred-texts.com

p. 645

Abmoara—Term applied to express the mutual relationship existing between a young man and the old man under whose charge he has been placed during the Engwura ceremony. The same word is used in certain parts of the Arunta tribe as the name of a favourite drink made by steeping Hakea flowers in water.

Achilpa—Native name of the so-called wild cat (Dasyurus geoffroyi) which gives its name to an important totem.

Akakia—A plant of the genus Santalum, locally known as a plum tree; it gives its name to a totem.

Akurlaitcha—A necklace made of the umbilical cord and worn as a charm round the child's neck.

Akurna—Bad.

Alailinga—Name given to dark clouds with a light edging, a resemblance to which is supposed to be produced by the knocking out of a front tooth.

Alatunja—The head man of a local totemic group.

Alcheringa—Name given to the far past times in which the mythical ancestors of the tribe are supposed to have lived.

Aldorla—West.

Aldorla ilunga—The west country.

Alkira—The sky.

Alkirakiwuma—The first initiation rite, that of throwing the boy up.

Alkna—The eye.

Alkna-buma—Term applied to a child born with its eyes open.

Alkna-bunga—Term applied to a child born with its eyes closed.

Alknalinta—Name of a special rock in the Emily Gap where in the mythical past times the leader of the witchetty grub totem stood whilst he pulverised the grubs on which he fed. The word means the decorated eyes.

Alknalarinika—The men who look on while a man is killed by an avenging party. The word means the onlookers.

Alla—The nose.

Allallumba—Name given in the southern Arunta to the youth who has just been circumcised.

Allinga—The sun.

Allira—Name applied by a man to his own or his brothers' (blood and tribal) children, and by a woman to her brothers' children.

Alpara—A small trough of wood used by the women for carrying food in.

Alpirtika—Name given to certain birds which are supposed to be the mates of the honey-ant people.

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Alpita—Tail tips of the rabbit bandicoot (Peragale lagotis), much used as ornaments.

Altherta—The ordinary dancing corrobborree which may be witnessed and taken part in by women as well as men.

Alua uparilima—A ceremony performed after blood has been shed in the presence of women; the term means the blood fading away.

Amba-keli-irima—Term applied to the showing the Waninga to the novice during the circumcision ceremony; it means the child sees and knows.

Ambaquerka—A young child male or female.

Ambilyerikirra—A sacred object used during a ceremony of the frog totem.

Amera—A spear-thrower.

Ampurtanurra—A long series of sacred ceremonies associated with the wild cat totem.

Amunga—A fly.

Amunga-quinia-quinia—A small fly-eating lizard.

Anaintalilima—A ceremony during which the body of a man is rubbed with red ochre by an elder man, thus allowing the former to come into the presence of the latter which before this he was not allowed to do.

Anainthalilima—Ceremony of cutting off locks of hair of the newly initiated man by his elder sisters.

Anchinya—Grey-haired.

Ankura—Curved adze with flint attached at each end.

Anthinna—The opossum (Trichosurus vulpecula).

Antikera—South-west.

Apera—A tree.

Aperla—Grandmother or grandchild on the male side.

Aperta—A stone.

Aperta atnumbira—A stone which arose to mark the spot at which men who were suffering from the disease called Erkincha died.

Apirka—Powdered charcoal.

Apmara—A small wooden through carried by the Alatunja during the performance of the Intichiuma ceremony of the witchetty grub totem.

Apulla—The ground on which the ceremony of circumcision is performed.

Appungerta—Name of one of the sub-classes amongst the northern Arunta and the Ilpirra tribe.

Apunga—A knitted string bag.

Arachitta—Name given to poles decorated with leafy twigs and used during the circumcision ceremony.

Arakurta—Status term applied to a young man between the times of the ceremonies of circumcision and sub-incision.

Arakutja—A fully grown woman.

Aralkililima or Aralkalilima—The term applied to ceremonies the object of which is to remove a restriction of some nature. In one of these the widow of a dead man hands food to the relatives of the dead man, after which she may come into their presence; in others the mouth of a man is touched with some sacred object used during the performance of a ceremony whereby the ban of silence existing between him and the performer of the ceremony is removed.

Aramurilia—The chaplet of bones worn by certain women during the final mourning ceremony; this term is used by women, the men cal the same object Chimurilia.

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Ariltha or Ariltha-kuma—The ceremony of sub-incision.

Ariltha-erlitha-atnartinja—Term applied to the second operation of sub-incision frequently performed upon men at their own request.

Aritna churinga.—The sacred or secret name given to each individual and associated with his or her Churinga which belonged to an ancestor of whom the living individual is regarded as the reincarnation.

Arri-inkuma—A loud noise made by shouting while the hand is moved rapidly backwards and forwards in front of the mouth.

Arumburinga—The spirit which issues from the natural object which arises to mark the spot where the Alcheringa individual died. It is thus a double of the original spirit which remains in the Churinga.

Arunga—Grandfather or grandchild on the male side. Also the native name of the Euro (Macropus robustus), which gives its name to a totem.

Arungquiltha—A magic evil influence. The term is applied both to the evil influence and to the material object in which it is resident.

Arwatcha—A small rat, which gives its name to a totem.

Atalya—A hollow sound.

Atcha—Resin obtained from porcupine grass and used as a cementing material.

Atna-ariltha-kuma—The ceremony of introcision or cutting open of the vulva.

Atna nylkna—The term applied to a man who has intercourse with a woman who belongs to the group from which his wife must come, but who has not been specially allotted to him.

Atnarbitta—Foul-smelling.

Atnimma—Standing erect.

Atninja—The moon.

Atninpirichina—Name given to the Princess Alexandra parakeets (Spathopterus alexandroe).

Atnitta—The stomach or abdomen.

Atnongara—Magic stones in the body of the medicine man.

Atnumbanta—The brake of boughs behind which the novice lies during the ceremonies concerned with circumcision.

Atnuta—Limp.

Atwia-atwia—Name applied to the men who operate at the ceremony of circumcision.

Aura—Name applied to the hole which is dug in the ground during certain ceremonies to represent a man or woman.

Auaritcha—The status term applied in the southern Arunta tribe to the boy after his hair has been for the first time tied up at the beginning of the first ceremony of initiation.

Bulthara—Name of one of the sub-classes of the Arunta tribe.

Chankuna—A small edible berry giving its name to a totem.

Chantchawa—Name given to the head man of a local group in the north-eastern part of the Arunta tribe.

Charunka—Very wise.

Chaurilia—Name applied to an offering of food made to men who have officiated at certain ceremonies, and after the presentation of which the ban of silence previously existing between the donor and recipient is removed.

Chilara—A broad band worn across the forehead from ear to ear and made of strands of opossum fur string.

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Chimurilia—Chaplet of bones worn by certain women during the final mourning ceremony. This term is used by men only, the women call it Aramurilia.

Chimbaliri—Sacred object of the Urabunna tribe, the equivalent of the bull-roarer or Churinga of the Arunta tribe.

Churinga—A term implying something sacred or secret. The term is applied both to an object and to the quality possessed by it. It is most frequently used to mean one of the sacred stones or sticks of the Arunta tribe, which are the equivalents of the bull-roarers of other tribes.

Churinga amunga—A stone Churinga of the fly totem used to cure bad eyes.

Churinga ilkinia—Name given to the series of sacred designs associated with the totems.

Churinga irula—A wooden Churinga or bull-roarer.

Churinga nanja—The Churinga or bull-roarer which is especially associated with each man and woman, and is supposed to have belonged to and to have been carried about by the spirit, whose reincarnation he or she is.

Churinga unchima—Small rounded stones which are supposed to be the eggs of the witchetty grubs of the mythical past.

Churinga unginia—A stone Churinga associated with a rat totem and rubbed on the chin of young men to induce a growth of beard.

Echunpa—A large lizard (Varanus giganteus), which gives its name to a totem.

Ekirinja—Forbidden or tabu.

Ekulla—A cake made of grass seed and presented by men of the emu totem to men who were returning borrowed Churinga.

Eliaqua erkuma—Embracing the sacred pole by the novice during the ceremonies concerned with the operation of circumcision.

Elkintera—A large white bat (Megaderma gigas), which gives its name to a totem.

Elonka—The fruit of a species of Marsdenia, which gives its name to a totem.

Elucha—The man who holds the shield on which the novice is placed during the operation of circumcision.

Enchichichika—Design painted on the back of the boy during the first rite associated with initiation.

Engwura—A series of ceremonies attendant upon the last of the rites concerned with initiation.

Equilla timma—Projecting smell into food.

Equina—Pipe-clay.

Erathipa—A stone representing the spot at which a sacred pole was implanted and at which a child went into the earth together with a number of Churinga. Spirit children emanate from the stone.

Erilknabata—A very wise old man of the mythical past times.

Erkincha—A disease to which young people are especially liable.

Erlia—An emu; the name of an important totemic group.

Erlukwirra—A special part of the main camp where the women assemble and near to which the men may not go.

Ertnatulunga—Sacred storehouse of a local totemic group in which are stored sacred objects which are used in ceremonies and may not be seen by the women and children. The greater number of the objects consist of the Churinga or bull-roarers.

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Ertoacha—Part of the internal reproductive organs of a male kangaroo, opossum, etc., used for magic purposes.

Ertua—The wild turkey (Leipoa ocellata), which gives its name to a totem.

Ertwa—A man.

Ertwa-kirra—Offering of food made by men who have passed through the Engwura to the old men who have been in charge of them during the ceremony. The meaning of the term is men's meat.

Ertwa-kurka—Status term applied to a man who has been circumcised and subincised but has not passed through the Engwura ceremony.

Ertwa-oknurcha—A name applied to the moon. It means a big man.

Gammona—Mother's brothers, blood and tribal.

Idnimita—Grub of a longicorn beetle which gives its name to a totem.

Iknula—A black line painted above the eye of a new born child to prevent sickness. The same term is applied to the line painted above the hole in the Erathipa stone, through which the children are supposed to peer out.

Iknura—East.

Ikuntera—Father-in-law; the name applied by a man to every man whose daughter is eligible to him as wife.

Ikuntera-tualcha—The name applied by a man to the particular man whose daughter, born or unborn, has been specially allotted to him as wife.

Ilarntwa—Bag made of skin.

Ilchella—Name applied by a woman only to the daughters of her father's sisters, blood and tribal.

Ilchinkinja—A special messenger sent out to summon different local groups to the Engwura ceremony. The word means the beckoning hand.

Ililika—A knout made by the Warramunga tribe and supposed to be endowed with magic power. It is especially used to frighten women.

Ilkinia—Name given to the sacred designs associated with the different totems.

Ilkunta—Whittled sticks worn in the hair. In the northern part of the Arunta tribe the wearing of these indicates that the men are going to fight.

Illapurinja—Name applied to a woman who goes out for the purpose of killing some other woman who has offended against a tribal custom. The word means the changed one.

Illiura—Name applied to men who during the Intichiuma ceremony of the emu totem represent the descendants of the men called Inniakwa who themselves represent early ancestors of the totemic group.

Illpongwurra—Name applied to men passing through the Engwura ceremony. The word means not decorated with grease.

Illpuma—Eclipse of the sun.

Illunja—A lizard which gives its name to a totem.

Illupa—A ground axe head made of diorite.

Illuta—A rat, a species of Conilurus, which gives its name to a totem.

Ilpilla—A bunch of eagle-hawk feathers worn in the waist band in the middle of the back.

Ilpintira or Churinga ilpintira—Special name given to the sacred design of the emu totem drawn upon the ground.

Ilpirla—(I) A form of manna peculiar to the mulga tree and eaten by the natives. (2) A drink made by steeping in water the bodies of honey-ants.

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Ilqualthari—A word signifying mates and applied to animals, usually birds, which are supposed to be in some special way associated with the members of particular totems.

Ilthura—A shallow cave or hole in the ground in which is placed a sacred stone representing a stage in the development of the witchetty grub.

Ilyabara—Bark.

Ilyabara iwuma—Bark throwing ceremony during the circumcision ceremonies.

Ilyappa—A ring made of grass stalks bound round with human hair string and decorated with down; used during a sacred ceremony of the Irriakura totem.

Imampa—Emu feather chignons worn by the men.

Imitnya—Fur string head bands used to tie round the hair.

Immirinja—The men who actually take part in the killing during an avenging expedition.

Inapertwa—Incomplete human beings who were transformed into men and women.

Inarlinga—The Echidna or so-called porcupine.

Inga—Fat.

Ingwalara—Name applied to the medicine man in the southern part of the Arunta tribe, the equivalent of the term Railtchawa in the northern part.

Ingwitchika—Seed of a species of Claytonia used as food; it gives its name to a totem.

Ininja—A party organised to inflict punishment on an individual who has offended against tribal law.

Injilla—A pointing stick made of bone or wood with a small lump of resin at one end.

Inniakwa—Men who during the Intichiuma ceremony of the emu totem represent ancestors of the totem.

Intathurta—Emu feather shoes worn by the Kurdaitcha. This name is used in the southern part of the tribe.

Interlinia—Emu feather shoes worn by the Kurdaitcha. This name is used in the north of the tribe.

Interpitna—A fish, called locally the Bony bream (Chatoessus horni), which gives its name to a totem.

Intichiuma—Sacred ceremony performed by the members of a local totemic group with the object of increasing the number of the totemic animal or plant.

Intinga—Husband's sisters, blood and tribal.

Inturrita—A pigeon (Lophophaps leucogaster) locally called the rock-pigeon; it gives its name to a totem.

Inwunina—Pointing sticks worn like two horns on the head of a performer, representing an Oruncha or mischievous spirit.

Inwurra—A messenger carrying one or more Churinga who is sent to summon the members of other groups when ceremonies are to be performed.

Irchantpina—Name applied to the running with very exaggerated high knee action, which is always adopted during the performance of ceremonies.

Irkoa-artha—Name applied to the individual who takes charge of the newly initiated man when the women's camp is visited after the ceremony of sub-incision.

Irkun—A term signifying light and frivolous.

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Irna—A pointing stick made of bone or wood, and with a small lump of resin at one end.

Irquantha—A term signifying churlish; it is applied, for example, to men who do not obey the summons of a properly accredited messenger.

Irriakura—A favourite food, the bulb of Cyperus rotundus. It gives its name to a totem.

Irripitcha—The ring-necked parrot (Platycercus zonarius). These birds are regarded as the mates of the men of the Irriakura totem.

Irritcha—The eagle-hawk (Aquila audax); the bird gives its name to a totem and its feathers are much in request for decorative purposes.

Irrunpa—Term applied in the south of the Arunta tribe to the large lizard which in the north is called Echunpa.

Irruntuwurra—Name applied to the men upon whose body the novice lies down during the operation of circumcision.

Iruka—A knitted string bag.

Irula—A term signifying wooden or made of dressed wood; for example, a wooden Churinga is often spoken of as Churinga irula.

Irulchiukiwuma—Movement of shields by members of an avenging party when returning. The object of the particular movement is to ward off the spirit of the dead man.

Iruntarinia—The general term applied to spirit individuals. Amongst them certain special forms are called by distinct names, such as Ulthana or Arumburinga.

Itia—Younger brother or sister, blood and tribal.

Iturka—Term applied to a man who has had intercourse with a woman belonging to a class which is forbidden to him.

Kakwa—A small hawk which gives its name to a totem.

Kartwia quatcha—Term meaning rain or water country and applied to a district occupied by a water totem group.

Kauaua—A sacred pole painted with human blood and decorated with the usual head ornaments of a man; it is used in connection with the Engwura ceremony.

Killarina—Name given in the northern part of the Arunta tribe to the man who assists the actual operator during the ceremony of circumcision.

Kirarawa—Name applied to one moiety of the Urabunna tribe. The name is the equivalent of the Kararu in the neighbouring Dierie tribe.

Kirra-urkna—Girdle made out of the hair cut from the head of a dead man and supposed to be endowed with all the attributes of the latter.

Kobong—Native equivalent of the term totem in certain parts (Unclear:)o the west.

Koperta—The head.

Koperta kakuma—Ceremony of biting the scalp of a newly initiated youth.

Kulchia—Arm bands made of opossum fur string.

Kulla-kulla—A small kangaroo represented during a sacred ceremony.

Kulungu—A flaked stone knife made of quartzite.

Kumara—Name of one of the sub-classes in the Arunta tribe.

Kurdaitcha—Name applied to a man who has been either formally selected or goes out on his own initiative, wearing emu-feather shoes, to kill some individual accused of having injured some one by magic.

Kuthi—The equivalent of the Kurdaitcha in the Urabunna tribe.

Kutta-kutta—Little night hawks.

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Lalira—Large stone knives, made of flaked quartzite.

Lalkira—Nose bone worn through the septum.

Lartna—The ceremony of circumcision.

Lilpuririka—A term which signifies running like a creek.

Lonka-lonka—A flat plate-like ornament made from the shell of Melo ethiopica or Meleagrina margaritifera; it is used also as an object of magic.

Lubra—The usual name applied by white people to a native woman; in other parts of the continent the usual term is gin. The native term in the Arunta tribe is Arakutja.

Maegwa—The adult insect of the witchetty grub.

Marilla—The design peculiar to the Oruncha or mischievous spirit and painted on the body of a man when he is made into a medicine man by one of the Oruncha, or by a man who has been so made.

Matthurie—Name applied to one of the moieties of the Urabunna tribe.

Mauia—Magic stone of the Kaitish tribe.

Mia—Term applied by a man to all women whom his father might law-fully have married.

Mia-mia—A lean-to of boughs used as a shelter by the natives. The word has been introduced to this locality by the whites, and is pronounced, as if spelt in English, my-my.

Mira—A camp.

Mirna—An offering of seed food made during certain ceremonies.

Mulga—The name given to various species of Acacia (usually Acacia aneura) which forms dense scrub in many parts of Australia.

Mulyanuka—The term applied in the Arunta tribe to individuals who belong to the other moiety of the tribe to that to which the individual using the term himself belongs. Thus a Panunga or Bulthara man speaks of the Purula and Kumara as Mulyanuka.

Munyeru—A species of Claytonia, the seeds of which are used as food.

Mura—Wife's or husband's mother blood and tribal; thus all women whose daughters are eligible as wives are mura to him.

Nakrakia—The term applied in the Arunta tribe to individuals who belong to the same moiety of the tribe as that to which the individual who uses the term belongs; thus a Panunga or Bulthara man speaks of the Panunga and Bulthara as his Nakrakia.

Nalyilta—Name given to a bough shelter which is used in connection with the Intichiuma ceremony of the water totem.

Namatwinna—A small wooden bull-roarer. The name is derived from nama, grass, and twinna, to hit; because when whirled round it is made first of all to strike the ground.

Nanja—The term applied to some natural object, such as a tree or stone which arose to mark the spot where an ancestor of the mythical past went into the ground, leaving behind his spirit part associated with his Churinga. The tree or stone is the Nanja of that spirit and also of the human being in the form of whom it undergoes reincarnation. The Churinga is the Churinga nanja of the human being.

Nimmera—Name applied by a woman to her husband's father or to any man who might lawfully have married her husband's mother.

Ninchi-lappa-lappa—A little scarlet-fronted bird (Ephthianura tricolor) into which men, who in the mythical past continually painted themselves with red, changed.

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Nulliga—Spear-thrower of the Wambia tribe.

Nung-gara—Name applied to the medicine man by the natives of the Finke River district.

Nupa—The term used in the Urabunna tribe to designate men and women who are mutually marriageable.

Nurtunja—A pole used in sacred ceremonies, and emblematic of the animal or plant which gives its name to the totem with which the ceremony is concerned.

Oara (or Aura)—The name given to a crude drawing made on the ground and supposed to represent the outline of the body of some individual whom it is intended to injure by means of magic.

Obma—Name of a carpet snake which gives its name to a totem.

Ochirka—The sun.

Okincha-lanina irrulknakina—Name given to the girdle into which the opposum fur string girdle and head bands of a dead man are made up. The first term is the ordinary one applied to the article; the second one is compounded of the words, irra, he, ulkna, grave, and kinna, from.

Okira—A kangaroo (Macropus rufus) which gives its name to a totem.

Oknanikilla—A local totem centre; an area of country which is supposed to be inhabited by the spirits of ancestral individuals. The spirits of each local centre belong to one totem.

Oknia—The term applied by a man to his actual father and to all men who might lawfully have married his mother.

Oknira—Large or great.

Oknirabata—Name given to an old man who is learned in tribal customs and tradition and teaches the others. The word means great teacher.

Okoara—A ceremony which consists in the handing of soil over to the man who is to perform the ceremony of circumcision by the elder brother of the novice.

Okranina—A snake which gives its name to a totem.

Okunjepunna oknira—The equivalent of the term much infatuated.

Opmira—A camp.

Oruncha—Term applied to individuals both men and women who lived in the mythical past, and to spirit individuals at the present day, who are regarded as being of a mischievous nature.

Orunchilcha—Design representing the hand of an Oruncha. It is painted on the forehead of a man who is being made into a medicine man by an Oruncha.

Panunga—Name of one of the sub-classes of the Arunta tribe.

Parra—A long mound of earth raised during the Engwura ceremony.

Paukutta—Name applied to the top-knot into which the hair of boys is sometimes done up.

Piraungaru—The term used in the Urabunna tribe to designate a limited number of men and women who may lawfully have marital relationship.

Pitchi—A hollowed out wooden trough used chiefly by the women for carrying food and water in.

Puliliwuma—Throwing spittle to produce evil magic.

Pura—Tail or Penis.

Pura-ariltha-kuma—The ceremony of sub-incision.

Purula—One of the sub-classes of the Arunta tribe.

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Quabara or Quabara undattha—Name applied generally to the sacred ceremonies which, at the present day, only initiated men may witness and take part in. These ceremonies are associated with the totems.

Quatcha—Water. Quatcha wilima is running water, Quatcha untima is rain or falling water.

Quirra—The bandicoot (Perameles obesula), which gives its name to a totem.

Railtchawa—Name applied to the medicine man in the northern part of the Arunta tribe.

Takula—A pointing stick.

Tapunga—Name applied to the man upon whom the novice lies during the operation of circumcision.

Tapurta—The name given to a long series of ceremonies connected with the lizard totem.

Tchanka—The bull-dog ant (a species of Myrmecia), the bite of which is supposed to deprive medicine men of their powers.

Tchinperli—A form of magic used among the Ilpirra tribe in connection with which a pointing stick with bits of flint stuck into it is employed.

Tchintu—A magic object of the Wyinurri tribe which is supposed to contain the heat of the sun.

Thanunda—Name given to the storing place of the Churinga on the Engwura ground.

Thara—A special fire lighted by an avenging party beside which it is intended to kill the victim.

Thippa-thippa—Name applied to certain birds which are regarded as the mates of the large lizards and as transformations of human beings of the mythical past.

Thunthunnie—The equivalent of the word totem in the Urabunna tribe.

Tirna—General name for the pitchis or wooden troughs in which food and water are carried.

Trora—Name of musical instrument consisting of two sticks variously shaped which are struck together.

Tualcha-mura—Special term of relationship applied to the woman by a man to whom her daughter has been specially allotted.

Tukira—Boils.

Tulkara—Quail, which gives its name to a totem.

Tundun—Name of the bull-roarer in the Kurnai tribe.

Twanyirika—The spirit whose voice is supposed by the women to be heard when the bull-roarer sounds, and who is believed by them to carry off the boy.

Uchaqua—Stones which represent the chrysalis stage of the witchetty grub.

Uchuilma—A word signifying lithe or active.

Udnirringita—One of the larval insect forms called witchetty grubs. The name is derived from the term Udnirringa, the name of the bush on which the insect feeds. It gives its name to an important totem.

Ukarkinja—Name applied in the southern part of the tribe to the men who take charge of the novice during the first of the initiation ceremonies.

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Ukgnulia—Name of the wild dog or dingo, which gives its name to a totem.

Uknaria—Name of one of the sub-classes in the northern part of the Arunta and in the Ilpirra tribe.

Ulchulkinja—Wattle (Acacia) seed; the name of a totem.

Uliara—Name of the girdle worn by men and made out of human hair.

Ulima—The liver; a name given to a hill which arose to mark the spot where the liver of a celebrated kangaroo of the mythical past was thrown on the ground by wild dogs.

Ullakakulla—The act of dislocating the joints so as to make a dead body hang limply.

Ullakupera—A little hawk, which gives its name to an important totem.

Ullink—A pointing stick with a hooked end, supposed to be used by spirits for inserting in the bodies of individuals whom they desire to annoy.

Ulpirra—A musical instrument, consisting of a small hollowed out branch which is blown through. Used also as an object of magic.

Ulpmerka—Term applied to a boy before he has been circumcised. The name is also used in connection with groups of individuals of certain totems, who are the descendants of ancestors, who in the mythical past were not circumcised as the other members of the totem were.

Ulquita—A shield.

Ultha—Name applied to the piece of wood placed in the ground above the spot where the foreskin is buried in the southern Arunta.

Ulthana—The spirit part of a dead man which is supposed to haunt the precincts of the grave until the final mourning ceremony has been carried out.

Ultunda—Magic stone in the body of a medicine man.

Umba—Name applied by a woman to her own or her sister's children and by a man to those of his sister.

Umbalinyara—A cross used during the performance of a sacred ceremony concerned with the Iruntarinia or spirits.

Umbana—A long narrow bough shelter which is used during the Intichiuma ceremony of the witchetty grub totem, and is supposed to represent the chrysalis stage of the insect.

Umbirna—Wife's brother; the term is applied by a man to the brother of any woman who is lawfully marriageable to him.

Umbirna ilirima—The name given to a reconciliation meeting between two groups which have been on bad terms; the term means seeing and settling

Umbitchana—The name of one of the sub-classes in the Ilpirra and northern Arunta tribes.

Unawa—The term used in the Arunta tribe to designate men and women who are reciprocally marriageable.

Unchalka—A little grub which gives its name to a totem.

Unchalkulkna—The act of handing the fire-stick during the ceremonies concerned with circumcision.

Unchichera—A frog (Limnodynastes dorsalis) which gives its name to an important totem.

Unchichera irrunpa—Short sticks used during a ceremony of the frog totem to imitate the croaking of frogs.

Unchima or Churinga unchima—Small round stones supposed to represent the eggs of the witchetty grubs.

Unchipera—A small bat (Nyctophilus timoriensis) which gives its name to a totem.

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Unchirka—A grass seed.

Undattha—Down derived either from the involucral hairs of some plant such as a species of Portulaca or from birds, especially the eagle-hawk. The use of this down is characteristic of sacred ceremonies which, with rare exceptions, the women are not allowed to see.

Undiara—Name of a cave associated with the kangaroo totem, at which an Intichiuma ceremony is peformed.

Ungalla—Name of one of the sub-classes in the Ilpirra and northern Arunta tribes.

Ungambikula—The name of two beings who transformed Inapertwa creatures into human beings. The meaning of the term is self-existing or made out of nothing.

Ungaraitcha—Term of relationship applied to elder sisters, blood and tribal.

Ungunja—Special part of the main camp where the men assemble and near to which the women may not go.

Unjiacherta—A term meaning the place of Unjiamba men.

Unjiamba—Name of the flower of a species of Hakea which gives its name to a totem.

Unjipinna—Term of address applied by a boy to a man who has relinquished his right to the sister of the former as wife; in this case the boy has to give his hair to the man.

Unkapera—Name of a bundle carried by one of the mythical ancestors of the Arunta tribe as he journeyed over the country. It contained men and women.

Unkir-ertwa—Greedy men.

Unkulla—Relationship term applied to the sons and daughters of the father's sisters.

Uninapathera—Name applied in the southern part of the Arunta tribe to the moiety of the tribe to which the individual using the term belongs. The term is the equivalent of Nakrakia in the north.

Untaina—A small rat which gives its name to a totem.

Unthippa—Name applied to certain women of the mythical past times who are supposed to have danced across the country from west to east. The Unthippa dance at the ceremony of circumcision commemorates these women.

Untungalirrima—Ceremony of scraping the backs of recently initiated youths by one who has just been circumcised, the object being to place them all on terms of equality, and to make them friendly.

Ura—Fire.

Ura-ilyabara—A fire-stick or lighted piece of bark which tradition says was used for performing circumcision before the introduction of the stone knife.

Urinchitha—A spark of fire.

Urinthantima—Name given to the man on whose lap the novice sits during the ceremony of circumcision when the fire stick is handed to him by his mia or mother.

Urlewa—South-east.

Urliara—Name applied to the fully initiated men who have passed through the Engwura ceremony.

Urliwatchera—A large lizard (Varanus gouldi) which gives its name to a totem.

Urpmilchima—Final mourning ceremony conducted at the grave of a dead man or woman. The word means trampling the twigs on the grave.

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Urtwi-urtwi—Name applied in the southern Arunta tribe to the man who operates at circumcision. The equivalent of the term Atwia-twia in the northern part of the tribe.

Urumbinya—Name applied by a man in the southern part of the Arunta tribe to the moiety of the tribe to which he does not belong. The equivalent of the term Mulyanuka in the north.

Urumpilla—Name applied in some parts to the Engwura ceremony. The word is, in part, compounded of the word Ura, fire.

Urumpira—A large spear made for fighting at close quarters.

Urpma—Cicatrices raised on the bodies of women.

Urpmala—The act of making fire.

Uwilia—Name given to the officials who paint the boy during the ceremony of circumcision.

Uwinna—Term of relationship applied to a father's sisters, blood and tribal.

Wabma—A snake which gives its name to a totem.

Wahkutnimma—Name applied to the running round the decorated performers during a sacred ceremony.

Wallira—A large spear.

Waninga—A sacred object emblematic of some totemic animal or plant.

Wanmyia—Name given to the spear-thrower in the Warramunga tribe.

Wanpa—Name given to sticks which are beaten together to keep time to the dancing during ceremonies.

Wartilkirri—Name of the beaked boomerang of the Warramunga tribe.

Wetta—Twigs of a species of Eremophila worn by the men who are passing through the Engwura ceremony.

Wialka—Name of the beaked boomerang amongst the Kaitish tribe.

Witia—Younger brother, blood and tribal.

Wultha-chelpima—Name given to the lying down of certain men on the top of the novice during the ceremonies concerned with circumcision.

Wulya—Name given to the officials who paint the novice during the circumcision ceremony.

Wungara—Name of a species of duck in the Urabunna tribe, which gives its name to a totem.

Wunpa—Name applied to a young woman until such time as her breasts grow pendent.

Wupira—An ornament worn by the men at the close of the Engwura ceremony, and consisting of a strand of fur string tipped with a little tuft of the tail tips of the rabbit-kangaroo.

Wurley—Name of bough shelter used by the natives; the term has been introduced from other parts of Australia.

Wurtja—Name given to the novice during the ceremonies attendant upon that of circumcision after he has been painted and before the actual operation.

Yarumpa—Name of the honey-ant (Camponotus spp.), which gives its name to a totem.

Yirira—North.

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