Talk:weroole

RFV discussion: August–October 2017
A surprising RFV considering the contributor, but there are no uses that I can see. DTLHS (talk) 04:38, 21 August 2017 (UTC)

Indeed. I don't even remember adding it. It is clearly an Australian-only word, which is going to limit the sources for it. It's in Websters 1913, but at this point, I can't find any uses. Kiwima (talk) 05:13, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Is this a word you have heard or used personally? DTLHS (talk) 05:20, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Given the timing of the entry, I probably did add it after hearing it (I was on holiday in Australia around then). Kiwima (talk) 10:47, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Also, is it possible it has a different spelling that is more common? DTLHS (talk) 05:24, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * According to this amateur site the varied lorikeet is called a wero in unspecified language(s) of northern Australia. I can find use of this name on the web, but not attestation. DCDuring (talk) 07:14, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * wero in Maori and Kwaza seem unrelated, tho wero means parrot in Kwaza, a south American language. DCDuring (talk) 07:31, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Here's a mention of "wero" from a publication titled "The Emu: Official Organ of the Australasian Ornithologists' Union, Volumes 20-21". I can't see the rest of the page so I don't know the context of the names. DTLHS (talk) 07:38, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * It looks like weroole cannot be attested from our sources as an English word. Wero seems unlikely also. Wero at least seems possibly attestable in some Australian language. I'll leave this to someone who as access to some of the Australian sources. DCDuring (talk) 08:31, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * A visible newspaper use of wero.
 * 1918, January 18, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, New South Wales), page 6
 * the jerrlang (or little lorikeet), the rosella, the wero (or varied lorikeet), the warren (or blue mountain lorikeet), and the king parrot are especially.
 * That makes two for wero in English. DCDuring (talk) 09:04, 21 August 2017 (UTC)


 * Here's an interesting use of "Werol." in a German book from 1881. There's a reference to "The Birds of Australia, Volume 5" by John Gould that I haven't been able to track down online . DTLHS (talk) 19:24, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Is it possible this is actually a native German word? DTLHS (talk) 19:36, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * The Dutch explored the coast of Australia and had Indonesia as a colony, including West Timor, where the birds might have once been found, though they are now endemic only in northern Australia. DCDuring (talk) 20:06, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Found it: The Birds of Australia : in seven volumes, 1848, by Gould, John, page 117, "We-ro-ole, Aborigines of Port Essington" DTLHS (talk) 23:25, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Next target: works by John Gilbert; "8 September 1840 Varied Lorikeet Psitteuteles versicolor collected at Port Essington (MCZ 88783)."


 * I've compiled all mentions of the word and variants at Citations:weroole. Does not support the word as having entered the English lexicon, in any spelling. DTLHS (talk) 17:36, 22 August 2017 (UTC)


 * Do either of you have any resources related to the peoples and languages around Port Essington in around the 19th century? It would be nice if we could salvage the original source of this word even if the English entry is deleted. DTLHS (talk) 19:23, 25 August 2017 (UTC)


 * There were many languages spoken in the vicinity. I think Macassan Pidgin (a trade language) was used for communication between European and Aboriginal peoples around Port Essington. See here. It seems like a likely candidate. —Stephen (Talk) 22:39, 26 August 2017 (UTC)

RFV-failed Kiwima (talk) 22:31, 12 October 2017 (UTC)