Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra and Richard Trudgen talk about the meaning of the words Coronavirus and COVID-19.

Many Yolŋu are confused because two names are being used in the media; Coronavirus and COVID-19. The question is being asked, “Are there two diseases?”

This program looks at the meaning of coronavirus by working through the history of the word corona. Djiniyini and Richard explore the Latin and Greek roots of the word.

This is very important for the Yolŋu population because they don’t have any connections to the Latin or Greek roots in their language, so it is impossible for them to decipher. This leads to suspicion amongst Yolŋu that the whole COVID-19 discussion is something that’s been manufactured by somebody as a joke.

The traditional worldview of Yolŋu means they want in-depth, science-based information in order to understand any new topic. This is what Yolŋu call the “dhuḏi-dhäwu” – the deep true story. This full series of videos attempts to answer some of their questions from a Yolŋu worldview, using their linguistic construction of knowledge.