Etymologically
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boomerang

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbuːməɹæŋ/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

It was adopted from an Aboriginal language of New South Wales, Australia;[2][3] the AHD, Merriam-Webster and Random House name it as Dharuk, the language of the Port Jackson area, with the form bumariny.[4][5][6] A form wo-mur-rang was recorded in a glossary of Port Jackson words in 1798.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A curved wooden throwing weapon of the Australian Aborigines (1825 in Merriam-Webster, 1827 in Barnhart and Etymonline).[5][2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The AHD's note quotes the first recorded English form, from 1825, describing a weapon that the natives of Port Jackson threw with a spinning motion.[4] The verb, to throw a boomerang, dates from 1880,[3][7] and the figurative sense of flying back to the starting point from 1900.[3] From the returning weapon came the sense of a statement or plan that backfires on its author.[4][5][6]

Timeline

  • 1798 – wo-mur-rang in a Port Jackson glossary.[2][3][7]
  • 1825 – boomerang first recorded (AHD, Merriam-Webster).[4][5]
  • 1880 – verb, to throw a boomerang.[3][7]
  • 1900 – verb, figurative, to come back to the starting point.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A flat, curved throwing stick, especially one designed to return to the thrower.
  2. A statement or course of action that backfires on its originator.

Verb

  1. To have the opposite effect from the one intended; to backfire.
  2. To come back or return, like a boomerang.

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press