gang-gangs

["Geoffrey Dabb" <>]

(1)  The lapses in the JD Macdonald book are inexplicable.  Gould (Handbook) 
attributed 'Gang-gang Cockatoo' to .Colonists of New South Wales' and not to 
Latham, and Gould himself said Latham used 'Red-crowned Parrot'.
(2)  In my view persons genuinely interested in name-origins should take a 
look at the OED first, perhaps rather than having COG look it up for them, 
to settle their dinner-table wager.  The OED's retrieval of first or early 
published uses is particularly useful, I think, for names believed to have 
their origin in an unwritten aboriginal language.  It is the early written 
use that generally freezes the sound (whatever it might have been, and 
perhaps arbitrarily) in the form used today.  Those interested in this might 
look at how other European languages have captured presumed indigenous 
sounds quite differently from the way English has done.
(3)  Tom:  what about 'tom-tom'? (Other examples available).