Jitajita
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The Jitajita, otherwise spelt Yitayita, are an indigenous Australian people of southern New South Wales.
Language
The Yitayita spoke one of the languages of the lower Murray river group that included Dadi Dadi and Kureinji, and is distinctive for the large number of monosyllables in its vocabulary.
Name
The tribal name Jitajita is a reduplicative endonym formed from their word for 'no' (jita). Numerous tribes in the area defined themselves in terms of the negative used. Early ethnographers marveled at the variety of words for 'no' among the Riverine tribes, as an index of the differences in their languages. Peter Beveridge remarked:
Each tribes possesses a gnalla wattow or postman, who can speak and understand the dialects of all the tribes within a radius of 150 miles. The persons of these officials are held sacred, even by tribes which are at feud with their own: they therefore negotiate all matters of barter and trade policy.
Country
The Jitajita lands covered some 4,800 square miles (12,000 km2), north of the Lachlan River from near Booligal - to vicinity of Balranald, west to Carrawathal. They appear to have been closely related to the Muthi Muthi. Their northwestern boundaries reached the edge of the Parintji domain.
Alternative names
- Eethie-Eethie, Eethee Eethee, Eetha-eetha
- Ita-ita, Ithi-ithi, Iti-iti
- Tjuop
- Yetho, Yit-tha, Yitsa
Source: Tindale 1974
Some words
- tin (foot)
- kapul (leg)
Notes
Citations
Sources
- Beveridge, Peter (1883). . Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. 17. Melbourne: 19–74. doi:.
- Hercus, Luise (1989). (PDF). Aboriginal History. 13 (1): 45–62.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). . Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6. Archived from on 19 July 2018.
External links
- - Official website