puripuri

[John Burton]

I wrote a medium lengthy reply the day before
yesterday to show why a Motuan origin is preferred,
but this disappeared into thin air when I pressed
'send'. Anyway, informants I have asked recently -
Motu, Koiari, Moveave - agree on this. Strangely,
though, it is not the ?Lister-Turner (Chatterton 2nd
ed) dictionary of Motu.

Assuming a Motu origin is correct despite this, some
or all of Chalmers, Lawes and MacFarlane, together
with their Pacific Islander teachers and crewmen,
would have been commuting between Elevala, Daru and
Thursday Island during the 1870s and this would easily
account for an introduction to the Torres Strait,
thence to Cape York, where it is also use, thence to
Katherine.

Any further clues?
John Burton


> Where does "puripuri" originate? In the Torres
> Strait they swear it's from
> their western language Kala Lagaw Ya. Mihalic
> doesn't list it and I can't
> find it in Muhlhausler's work.
> 
> [My response is:]
> Don't know about the origin, but I know it's used as
> far as Katherine in the
> Northern Territory, as well as PNG.
> Craig Volker


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