{"id":"BLENCHDICT-002","label":"Kana children's forbidden égùgù","people_or_site":"Kana (Ogoni); Bori-area language anchor","country_current":"Nigeria","historic_region":"Rivers State / Ogoni","macroregion":"Africa","local_name":"égùgù","source_term":"bullroarer","source_language":"Kana; English","object_description":"A children's bullroarer called égùgù among Kana (Ogoni) speakers of Rivers State, Nigeria, made in imitation of the instrument of the adult secret leopard society kuè tɛ̀m̀; material and form are not recorded.","function_summary":"Sounded by children towards the end of the year in imitation of the adult secret leopard society's bullroarer, although technically forbidden.","attestation_type":"lexical_attestation","source_key":"blench_kana_dictionary","source_type":"scholarly_dictionary","source_url":"https://rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/BC/Cross%20River/Ogoni/Kana-English%20dictionary%20Unicode%20RMB.pdf","page_or_plate":"Printed p. 15","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Bori/Kana-Ogoni language-area anchor; not an object findspot","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the Ogoni of the Niger Delta, east of Port Harcourt, the men's secret leopard society kuè tɛ̀m̀ keeps a bullroarer of its own. Kana children keep another. Towards the end of the year they take up the égùgù, an imitation of the society's instrument, and sound it — a thing they are not, strictly, permitted to do. How the adult instrument is made, and what it says, stays where the society keeps it.","pull_quote":"égùgù n. bullroarer. Imitation of the bullroarer used by the adult secret leopard society, kuè tɛ̀m̀, played by children towards the end of the year, although technically forbidden.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Roger Blench, A Dictionary of Kana, printed p. 15.","term_gloss":"bullroarer; forbidden children’s imitation of adult secret-society instrument","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["toy_survival"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Roger Blench, A Dictionary of Kana","url":"https://rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/BC/Cross%20River/Ogoni/Kana-English%20dictionary%20Unicode%20RMB.pdf","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20240724052426/https://rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/BC/Cross%20River/Ogoni/Kana-English%20dictionary%20Unicode%20RMB.pdf"}],"source_citations":"Roger Blench, A Dictionary of Kana","source_display":"Roger Blench, A Dictionary of Kana","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A children's bullroarer called égùgù among Kana (Ogoni) speakers of Rivers State, Nigeria, made in imitation of the instrument of the adult secret leopard society kuè tɛ̀m̀; material and form are not recorded.","function_display":"Sounded by children towards the end of the year in imitation of the adult secret leopard society's bullroarer, although technically forbidden.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"lexical attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"kana","display_name":"Kana children's forbidden égùgù","image":{"full":"assets/objects/TALBOT1912-001_prm_1914-26-116_ejagham.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/TALBOT1912-001_prm_1914-26-116_ejagham_thumb.jpg","alt":"Ejagham wooden bullroarer from the Oban district, Nigeria: a flat rectangular blade with a cord loop at one end and more cord coiled around the other.","credit":"Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1914.26.116)","license":"© Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford","source_page":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Ejagham bullroarer with its cord, from the Oban district of southeastern Nigeria.","pool_id":"auto-TALBOT1912-001_prm_1914-26-116_ejagham","last_modified":"2026-09-06"},"slug":"blenchdict-002-kana-ogoni-bori-area-language-anchor"}