waddy

I.

1) An aboriginal's war club. But the word isused for wood generally, even for firewood. In a kangaroohunt, a man will call out, «Get off and kill it with a waddy,» i.e. any stick casually picked up. In pigeon-English, «littlefellow waddy» means a small piece of wood.

In various dictionaries, e.g. Stanford, the word is entered asof aboriginal origin, but many now hold that it is the Englishword wood mispronounced by aboriginal lips.L. E. Threlkeld, in his `Australian Grammar,' at p. 10, entersit as a «barbarism « – – » waddy, a cudgel.» A `barbarism,'with Threlkeld, often means no more than `not in use on theHunter River'; but in this case his remark may be moreappropriate.

On the other hand, the word is given as an aboriginal word in Hunter's `Vocabulary of the Sydney Dialect' (1793), and in Ridley's `Kamilaroi' (1875), as used at George's River. The Rev. J. Mathew writes:

«The aboriginal words for fire and wood are veryoften, in fact nearly always, interchangeable, or interchanged,at different places. The old Tasmanian and therefore originalAustralian term for wood and fire, or one or the otheraccording to dialect, is wi (wee) sometimes win.These two forms occur in many parts of Australia with numerousvariants, wi being obviously the radical form. Hencethere were such variants as wiin, waanap, weenthin Victoria, and at Sydney gweyong, and at Botany Bay we, all equivalent to fire. Wi sometimes took onwhat was evidently an affixed adjective or modifying particle,giving such forms as wibra, wygum, wyber, wurnaway. The modifying part sometimes began with thesound of d or j (into which of course denters as an element). Thus modified, wi became wadjano on Murchison River, Western Australia; wachernee at Burke River, Gulf of Carp.; wichunon the Barcoo; watta on the Hunter River, New SouthWales; wudda at Queanbeyan, New South Wales. These lasttwo are obviously identical with the Sydney waddy =`wood.' The argument might be lengthened, but I think what Ihave advanced shows conclusively that Waddy is theTasmanian word wi + a modifying word or particle.»

1814. Flinders, `Voyage,' vol. ii. p. 189:

«Some resembling the whaddie, or wooden sword of the natives of Port Jackson.»

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii.p. 20:

«It is amusing to see the consequential swagger of some ofthese dingy dandies, as they pass lordly up our streets, with awaddie twirling in their black paws.»

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 66:

«Such a weapon as their waddy is: it is formed like a largekitchen poker, and nearly as heavy, only much shorter in thehandle. The iron-bark wood, of which it is made, is very hard,and nearly as heavy as iron.»

1844. Mrs. Meredith, `Notes and Sketches of New South Wales,'p. 106:

«The word `waddie,' though commonly applied to the weapons ofthe New South Wales aborigines, does not with them mean anyparticular implement, but is the term used to express wood ofany kind, or trees. `You maan waddie 'long of fire,' means`Go and fetch firewood.'»

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 17:

«The Lachlan black, who, with his right hand full of spears,his whaddie and heleman in his left, was skipping in the air,shouting his war cry.»

1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 54:

«A waddy, a most formidable bludgeon.»

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 101:

«The waddy is a heavy, knobbed club about two feet long, and isused for active service, foreign or domestic. It brains theenemy in the battle, or strikes senseless the poor gin in casesof disobedience or neglect.»

1864. `Once a Week,' Dec. 31, p. 45, `The Bulla BullaBunyip':

«The landlord swore to the apparition of a huge blackfellowflourishing a phantasmal `waddy.'»

1879. C. W. Schuermann, `Native Tribes of Australia – – PortLincoln Tribe,' p. 214:

«The wirris, by the whites incorrectly named waddies, are alsomade of gum saplings; they are eighteen inches in length, andbarely one inch in diameter, the thin end notched in order toafford a firm hold for the hand, while towards the other endthere is a slight gradual bend like that of a sword; they are,however, without knobs, and every way inferior to the wirris ofthe Adelaide tribes. The natives use this weapon principallyfor throwing at kangaroo-rats or other small animals.»

1886. R. Henty, `Australiana,' p. 18:

«The `waddy' is a powerful weapon in the hands of the native.With unerring aim he brings down many a bird, and so materiallyassists in replenishing the family larder.»

1892. J. Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 74:

«A general name for all Australian clubs is `waddy,' and,although they are really clubs, they are often used as missilesin battle.»

2) The word is sometimes used for a walking-stick.

II.

v. trans.

to strike with a waddy.

1855. Robert Lowe (Viscount Sherbrooke), `Songs of theSquatters,' canto ii. st. 7:

«When the white thieves had left me, the black thieves appeared,

My shepherds they waddied, my cattle they speared.»

1869. `Victorian Hansard,' Nov. 18, vol. ix. p. 2310, col. 2:

«They were tomahawking them, and waddying them, and breakingtheir backs.»

1882. A. Tolmer, `Reminiscences,' p. 291:

«In the scuffle the native attempted to waddy him.»

1893. `The Argus,' April 8, p. 4, col. 3:

«Only three weeks before he had waddied his gin to deathfor answering questions asked her by a blacktracker.»

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 45:

«For they waddied one another, till the plain was strewn with dead, While the score was kept so even that they neither got ahead.»