The commoner origin of Australasian English words is the
turning and twisting of an already existing English name. The
settler saw a fruit somewhat like a cherry. Though he knew
well that it was not a cherry, he christened it the "native
cherry." It may here be remarked that the prefix native is not
a satisfactory distinguishing adjective. Native bear, native
cherry, may teach the young Australian that the bear and the
cherry so named are not as the bear of the Arctic Regions or
the cherry of Europe. But in the British Museum the label does
not help much. The settler heard a bird laugh in what he
thought an extremely ridiculous manner, its opening notes
suggesting a donkey's bray--he called it the "laughing
jackass." His descendants have dropped the adjective, and it
has come to pass that the word "jackass" denotes to an
Australian something quite different from its meaning to other
speakers of our English tongue. The settler must have had an
imagination. Whip-bird, or Coach-whip, from the sound of the
note, Lyre-bird from the appearance of the outspread tail, are
admirable names.
Another class of name brought the Australian word nearer to its
English use. "Robin" for instance is applied to birds of
various species not known in Europe. Bird-names, fish-names,
plant-names, are sometimes transferred to new species,
sometimes to a new genus, sometimes to an entirely different
Natural Order, bearing a resemblance to the original, either
real or fancied, as for instance "Magpie." It is hardly
necessary to dwell longer on this point, for almost every page
of the Dictionary bears witness to it.