Papuanadj.n.
/ˈpap(j)ʊən/, /ˈpɑːp(j)ʊən/, U.S. /ˈpɑpʊən/ A. adj.
1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of Papua or Papuans.Formerly referring to any part of the island of New Guinea; now with reference to Papua New Guinea. Cf. Papua New Guinean adj. and n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Malaysia and Indonesia > [adjective] > specific islands
Philippine1603
Javan1613
Papuan1786
Balinese1820
Javanese1841
Sundanesian1876
Madurese1880
Filipino1900
Irian1950
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Asia > native or inhabitant of Papua and New Guinea > [adjective]
Papuan1786
Irian1950
1786 T. Pennant Indexes to Ornithologie of Comte de Buffon 13 Le Choucari de la Nouv. Guinèe..Papuan Cr[ow].
1791 J. Aikin tr. J. R. Forster Ess. on India in T. Pennant Indian Zool. 21 The Papuan inhabitants of the island Missowal..relate that the Paradise-birds never migrate.
1841 Port Phillip Patriot (Melbourne) 9 Aug. 4/1 Mr Gould took the opportunity of visiting Flinders Island, where the scanty remnants of the Papuan Indigines of Van Diemen's Land still exist.
1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipel. II. xl. 449 These people..are tall and well-made, with Papuan features, and curly hair.
1930 A. Huxley Let. 7 Jan. (1969) 326 The way every trace of beauty, originality, charm, nobility, existing in the various indigenous arts and crafts—from Papuan and Melanesian to Chinese and Indian—had been utterly stamped out.
1973 A. Behrend Samarai Affair xii. 124 A small roundish lump now shrunken and indeterminate but once the head of a Papuan tribesman.
1991 W. Sheed Baseball & Lesser Sports 112 All hands fell upon his taciturn family with the glee of a travelogue host alighting on a remote Papuan village.
2. Of, relating to, or designating the non-Austronesian languages native to New Guinea and surrounding islands.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Pacific > [adjective] > Papuan
Papuan1862
1862 J. Gilfillan Sabbath Viewed in Light Reason 597 Three printing presses, also, are at work, especially devoted to the Papuan vernacular of the respective islands.
1872 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 1 99 The Polynesian and Papuan languages..are yet, in some other respects, evidently much more primitive than any African member of the Prefix-prenominal class of languages.
1912 J. H. P. Murray Papua v. 135 The languages of the islands at the east end of Papua are all classed as Melanesian, with the exception of Rossel Island, the language of which is considered to be Papuan.
1957 Oceania 28 159 There is a distant genetic relationship between a group of Papuan (non-Austronesian) languages in the Vogelkop peninsula of Netherlands New Guinea and the equally non-Austronesian languages of North Halmahera.
1992 Sci. Amer. July 66/2 The villagers call themselves the Kim-Yal; their language, which belongs to one of the many Papuan families, they call Uni.
B. n.
1. Formerly: †a native or inhabitant of Papua, the former name of the island of New Guinea (obsolete). Now usually: a native or inhabitant of Papua New Guinea. Also: a member of a theoretical racial group including the native people of Papua and Australian Aboriginal people (now historical).
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Asia > native or inhabitant of Papua and New Guinea > [noun]
Papua1601
Papuan1791
Kiriwinian1916
Irianese1967
1791 J. Aikin tr. J. R. Forster Ess. on India in T. Pennant Indian Zool. 21 By the Papuans it [sc. the Paradise-bird] is named Shag or Shague.
1814 J. Maver in tr. J. M. de Zuñiga Hist. View Philippine Islands I. Introd. p. xii It is generally allowed that the language spoken by the Papuans, Samangs, and Negritos of the Philippines, and adjacent islands, is totally different from the Malayan.
1899 J. Mathew Eaglehawk & Crow 1 When the Australian continent was known as New Holland, its inhabitants were loosely designated Papuans.
1902 Chambers's Jrnl. May 287/2 [With] the Negro..he throws in the Papuans and Malays, who have black or olive skins.
1954 M. K. Wilson tr. K. Lorenz Man meets Dog p. ix Even highly civilized peoples..were accustomed to treat their prisoners no better than domestic animals... The Papuans eat them even to-day with excellent appetite.
1987 D. Gersi Explorer ii. 50 Some Papuans of New Guinea practice a similar ritual, cutting a small hole in a tree to help the soul of the tree depart safely before they fell it.
2. Those languages spoken in New Guinea and surrounding islands which are not members of the Austronesian family.These languages are extremely diverse and do not constitute a single family.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Pacific > [noun] > Papuan
Papuan1885
Moi1957
1885 W. B. Lawes Motu Gram. & Vocab. p. v The Motuan language seems to be a strange mixture of Papuan and Eastern Polynesian.
1925 J. H. P. Murray Papua of Today ii. 33 The Territory shows even a greater variety of languages. These languages are classified as Papuan and Melanesian.
1975 K. Katzner Langs. of World i. 27 The term Papuan is more geographic than linguistic, for the languages exhibit such wide variations among themselves that it seems hardly likely that they belong to a single family.
1992 Sci. Amer. Apr. 25/1 Their genetic diversity had been suspected from linguistic analyses of the remarkable variety of language families—generally classified as Papuan—spoken on this one island.
Compounds
Papuan hornbill n. a large black hornbill, Rhyticeros plicatus, having a white throat and tail, and (in the male) a golden head, native to New Guinea and surrounding islands.
ΚΠ
1866 G. F. Angas Polynesia iv. 68 The Buceros plicatus, or Papuan hornbill.
1950 Condor 52 128 A banyan will be visited by most of the doves and pigeons, the parrots, Papuan Myna, Papuan Hornbill, Brown-winged Starling, [etc.]
2010 Courier Mail (Austral.) (Nexis) 6 Mar. (Etc section) 26 It's undoubtedly not very grown-up to covet the approval of a Papuan hornbill.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.n.1786