Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia - Edward Ellis Morris

Ground L.—
Anthus australis, Vig. and Hors. (Australian Pipit),
A. novae-zelandae, Gray (New Zealand Pipit).

Lesser Bush L.—
Mirafra secunda, Sharpe.

Little Field L.—
Cathonicola sagittata, Lath.

Magpie L.—
Grallina picata, Lath.; see Magpie-Lark.

Rufous Song L.—
Cincloramphus rufescens, Vig. and Hors.

Striated Field L.—
Calamanthus fuliginosus, Vig. and Hors.

See Ground-Lark, Sand-Lark, Pipit, and Magpie-Lark.

<hw>Larrikin</hw>, n. The word has various shades of meaning between a playful youngster and a blackguardly rough. Little streetboys are often in a kindly way called little larrikins. (See quotations, 1870 and 1885.) Archibald Forbes described the larrikin as "a cross between the Street Arab and the Hoodlum, with a dash of the Rough thrown in to improve the mixture." (`Century.) The most exalted position yet reached in literature by this word is in Sir Richard Burton's `Translation of the Arabian Nights' (1886-7), vol. i. p. 4, Story of the Larrikin and the Cook; vol. iv. p. 281, Tale of First Larrikin. The previous translator, Jonathan Scott, had rendered the Arabic word, Sharper.

There are three views as to the origin of the word, viz.—

(1) That it is a phonetic spelling of the broad Irish pronunciation, with a trilled r of the word larking. The story goes that a certain Sergeant Dalton, about the year 1869, charged a youthful prisoner at the Melbourne Police Court with being "a-larrr-akin' about the streets." The Police Magistrate, Mr. Sturt, did not quite catch the word—"A what, Sergeant?"—"A larrikin', your Worchup." The police court reporter used the word the next day in the paper, and it stuck. (See quotation, `Argus,' 1896.)