the first written description of the emu was under the name of the new holland cassowary in arthur phillip's "voyage to botany bay", published in 1789. the species was named by ornithologist (bird expert) john latham, who worked on phillip's book. he provided the first descriptions of and names for many australian bird species. its scientific name, dromaius novaehollandiae, is from the latin words, meaning "fast-footed new hollander". the history of the common name, "emu", is not certain, but is thought to have come from an arabic word for large bird. this word was later used by portuguese explorers to describe the related cassowary in new guinea. in victoria, some indigenous australian words for the emu were "barrimal" in the djadja wurrung language, "myoure" in gunai, and "courn" in jardwadjali.