Zoo series: Kangaroo means 'I don't know'

Posted by tyan (Singapore, Singapore) on 4 May 2009 in Animal & Insect.

The story goes that when the first European explorers saw these strange hopping animals, the like of which they had never seen before, they ask the native Australian people, the Aboriginal inhabitance, what these creature were called. They replied "Can-ga-roo" which in their language meant something along the lines of "I don't understand your question". The explorers thought this was an answer to their question, mistaking it for "kangaroo" and the name of the animal. So, henceforth the creature was called "kangaroo".

If this story is true it stands to reason that the word "Can-ga-roo" or Kangaroo means "I don't understand your question" in the aboriginal tongue.
However, according to the Oceaniaweb factfile, the above story is actually a myth. The word "kangaroo" is believed to have come from the Aboriginal word gangurru, a Guugu Yimidhirr word referring to the Grey Kangaroo. Captain James Cook's botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, first recorded the word as "kangaru" when the Endeavour was damaged on the Great Barrier Reef near modern-day Cooktown, and required the crew to stay on the mainland for almost 7 weeks repairing their ship.

--taken from Wiki_answers