AY Honors/Aboriginal Lore/Answer Key

A Waddy is an Australian Aboriginal war club. The word comes from the Dharuk Aborigines of Port Jackson, Sydney.

Originally, the word waddy referred to a tree, or any piece of wood, as well as a verb meaning to 'beat up or kill with a club'

It has also been spelled as wadi, wady, and waddie. The spelling stabilised around the mid-nineteenth century, partly to help distinguish it from the Arabic word wadi, a dry water course.

Reference

• Peters, Pam, The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide, Cambridge University Press, 1995, ISBN 0521434017