Australian Aboriginal Words in Dictionaries: A Reaction1

摘要

A recent evaluation of how English dictionaries have treated the etymologies of some words borrowed from Australian languages was based on the author's own etymologies. I have examined one of these, for boomerang, and show that it incorporates inaccuracies and distortions, and that the criticism of J. A. H. Murray's etymology is unfounded. I suggest how the author's methodology may have led him astray.