Editing Bunyip (section)

==Name==
The origin of the word ''bunyip'' has been traced to the [[Wemba-Wemba]] or Wergaia language of the Aboriginal people of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], in South-Eastern Australia.<ref>{{harvnb|Clarke|2018|p=35}} ''apud'' Ramson, William Stanley (ed.) 1988 ''The Australian National Dictionary''; [[Robert M. W. Dixon|Dixon, Robert M. W.]]; Ramson, W. S.; Thomas, Mandy (eds.) 1992 ''Australian Aboriginal Words in English'' .</ref><ref name="Hughes">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/australianwordst0000unse/page/90/mode/1up?ref=ol&q=bunyip|title=Australian Words and Their Origins|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1989|isbn=0-19-553087-X|editor-last=Hughes|editor-first=Joan|editor-link=<!--Joan Hughes (lexicographer)-->|page=90}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Butler |first = Susan |title = The Dinkum Dictionary: The origin of Australian Words |year = 2009 |page = 53 |publisher = Text Publishing |isbn = 978-1-921351-98-3}}</ref>{{sfn|Holden|2001|p = 15}}

The word ''bunyip'' is usually translated by Aboriginal Australians today as "devil" or "evil spirit".<ref>See for example, "[[Oodgeroo Noonuccal]]", Kath Walker's story collected in ''Stradbroke Dreamtime''. [http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/bunyips/html-site/abor-stories/biami.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206012750/http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/bunyips/html-site/abor-stories/biami.html|date=6 February 2012}}</ref> This contemporary translation may not accurately represent the role of the bunyip in pre-contact [[Aboriginal mythology]] or its possible origins before written accounts were made. Some modern sources allude to a linguistic connection between the bunyip and [[Bunjil]], "a mythic 'Great Man' who made the mountains, rivers, man, and all the animals".<ref name = Oxford>{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Davey |editor1-first=Gwenda |editor1-link=<!--Gwenda Davey--> |editor2-last=Seal |editor2-first=Graham |editor2-link=<!--Graham Seal --> |title=Bunyip |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore |year=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6BOPAAAAMAAJq |pages=55–56 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-553057-8 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The word ''bahnyip'' first appeared in the ''[[Sydney Gazette]]'' in 1812.<ref name="Eberhart">{{cite book |last=Eberhart |first=George M. |title=Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology |volume=2 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2002 |isbn=1-57607-283-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z9gMsCUtCZUC&pg=PA74 |pages=74–77}}</ref> It was used by James Ives to describe "a large black animal like a seal, with a terrible voice which creates terror among the blacks".<ref name="Gilmore">{{cite book |last=Gilmore |first=David D. |title=Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0812203226 |page=150}}</ref>