{"id":"ALVARSSON2012-001","label":"Wéhnayey jwim-jwim children's whirring toy","people_or_site":"Wéhnayey / Wichí","country_current":"Bolivia","historic_region":"Río Pilcomayo, Provincia Gran Chaco, Tarija","macroregion":"South America / Gran Chaco","local_name":"jwim-jwim / juimjuim","source_term":"gemidor / palo silbante / vinare","source_language":"Spanish; Swedish metadata","object_description":"A 17 cm light wooden blade on a 45 cm caraguatá cord attached to a 71 cm handle stick; SMVK 1979.10.0313.","function_summary":"A boys' whirled toy named onomatopoeically for its jwim-jwim sound.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"alvarsson2012_jwim_jwim","source_type":"museum_collection; primary_ethnography","source_url":"https://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-vkm/web/object/14222","page_or_plate":"Alvarsson 2012:73; 2015:100 n. 208; SMVK 1979.10.0313","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Villa Montes regional anchor for the Río Pilcomayo / Provincia Gran Chaco provenance; no village is recorded.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Set the little blade circling and it says its own name: jwim-jwim. Wéhnayey boys along the Pilcomayo made the toy from light wood and long caraguatá fibre, hanging the rotor from a straight stick. A 1979 example preserves the whole rig—71-centimetre handle, 45-centimetre cord, 17-centimetre blade. Alvarsson later wondered whether an older use had called rain, as among neighbouring Toba. The sure scene is children turning a named sound through the air.","pull_quote":"Otro juguete popular entre los muchachos 'weenhayek es el gemidor o ‘palo silbante’ ... En la lengua 'weenhayek se utiliza una palabra onomatopéyica sumamente descriptiva: jwim-jwim.","pull_quote_translation":"Another popular toy among 'weenhayek boys is the whirrer or ‘whistling stick.’ In the 'weenhayek language a highly descriptive onomatopoeic word is used: jwim-jwim.","pull_quote_cite":"Alvarsson, Por la malla de una llica (2012), p. 73.","term_gloss":"jwim-jwim: onomatopoeic Wéhnayey name for the sound of the whirled toy; SMVK writes juimjuim.","cls":"play_practical","class_label":"Play / practical","color":"#24766D","is_candidate":false,"flags":["toy_survival"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"SMVK 1979.10.0313; Jan-Åke Alvarsson, Por la malla de una llica (2012), p. 73; De armonía a fuerza (2015), p. 100 n. 208","url":"https://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-vkm/web/object/14222","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220812224802/https://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-vkm/web/object/14222"}],"source_citations":"SMVK 1979.10.0313; Jan-Åke Alvarsson, Por la malla de una llica (2012), p. 73; De armonía a fuerza (2015), p. 100 n. 208","source_display":"SMVK 1979.10.0313; Jan-Åke Alvarsson, Por la malla de una llica (2012), p. 73; De armonía a fuerza (2015), p. 100 n. 208","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A 17 cm light wooden blade on a 45 cm caraguatá cord attached to a 71 cm handle stick; SMVK 1979.10.0313.","function_display":"A boys' whirled toy named onomatopoeically for its jwim-jwim sound.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"hnayey","display_name":"Wéhnayey jwim-jwim children's whirring toy","image":{"full":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/ALVARSSON2012-001_smvk_1979-10-0313.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/thumbs/ALVARSSON2012-001_smvk_1979-10-0313_thumb.jpg","credit":"Världskulturmuseet, Göteborg / SMVK (1979.10.0313)","license":"CC BY 4.0","source_page":"https://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-vkm/web/object/14222","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"The Wéhnayey jwim-jwim itself, preserved as a complete rig: straight handle, long cord, and slim wooden blade."},"slug":"alvarsson2012-001-wehnayey-wichi"}