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The bunyip is a large mythical creature from Australian Aboriginal mythology, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. The origin of the word ''bunyip'' has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia language of Aboriginal people of South-Eastern Australia. However, the bunyip appears to have formed part of traditional Aboriginal beliefs and stories throughout Australia, although its name varied according to tribal nomenclature. In his 2001 book, writer Robert Holden identified at least nine regional variations for the creature known as the bunyip across Aboriginal Australia. Various written accounts of bunyips were made by Europeans in the early and mid-19th century, as settlement spread across the country. ==Meaning== The word ''bunyip'' is usually translated by Aboriginal Australians today as "devil" or "evil spirit".〔See for example, Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker)'s story in ''Stradbroke Dreamtime.'' ()〕 However, this 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 and rivers and man and all the animals." The word ''bunyip'' may not have appeared in print in English until the mid-1840s.〔See ''Geelong Advocate'' 2 July 1845 at Peter Ravenscroft's ''Bunyip and Inland Seal Archive''()〕 By the 1850s, ''bunyip'' had also become a "synonym for impostor, pretender, humbug and the like" in the broader Australian community.〔 The term ''bunyip aristocracy'' was first coined in 1853 to describe Australians aspiring to be aristocrats. In the early 1990s, it was famously used by Prime Minister Paul Keating to describe members of the conservative Liberal Party of Australia opposition. The word ''bunyip'' can still be found in a number of Australian contexts, including place names such as the Bunyip River (which flows into Westernport Bay in southern Victoria) and the town of Bunyip, Victoria. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bunyip」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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