{"id":"DIXON2022-001","label":"Jirrbal and Girramay bibu bullroarer","people_or_site":"Jabunbarra Jirrbal / Girramay","country_current":"Australia","historic_region":"Murray Upper-Cardwell rainforest, northeastern Queensland","macroregion":"Australia","local_name":"bibu","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English / Dyirbal dialect labels","object_description":"Flat carved wooden blade with a string attached to the sharp end, whirled to produce a roaring noise. Dixon's field specimen from Jirrbal consultant Spider Henry was made from jalŋgi, weeping brown pine (Podocarpus grayae).","function_summary":"In Jirrbal the bullroarer shares its name with Wungumali, the spirit who helps at initiation ceremonies and spears the initiands in the knees; the Girramay word bibu carries only the mechanics.","attestation_type":"lexical_attestation","source_key":"dixon2022_dyirbal_thesaurus_bibu","source_type":"academic_language_description","source_url":"https://www.degruyterbrill.com/publication/isbn/9783111464473/downloadAsset/9783111464473_Dyirbal%20Thesaurus_Nominals%20and%20Time%20Words.pdf","page_or_plate":"printed p. 160; entry Jo6","map_confidence":"medium_high","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Jumbun / Murray Upper community anchor, shared by the Jirrbal and Girramay; the source does not give the specimen's collection coordinates.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"In the rainforest country between the upper Murray River and Cardwell in North Queensland, Jirrbal and Girramay speakers strung a flat blade of carved wood and swung it to a roar they called bibu. The example R. M. W. Dixon collected came from Spider Henry, a Jirrbal man who had cut his from jalŋgi — weeping brown pine. In Jirrbal the instrument has a second name, and it is a spirit's: bayi wungumali, who helps at initiation ceremonies, frightens everyone into scattering, and spears the initiands in their knees. The roarer and the being are one word.","pull_quote":"bull-roarer — flat piece of carved wood, with a string attached to the sharp end, whirled around to produce a lo[u]d roaring noise","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Dixon 2022:160","term_gloss":"bibu: Jirrbal and Girramay name for the bullroarer.  wungumali: the Jirrbal (and Mamu, Ngajan) name for the bullroarer and for the initiation spirit of the same name.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","initiation"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"R. M. W. Dixon, Dyirbal Thesaurus: Nominals and Time Words (2022), entry Jo6","url":"https://www.degruyterbrill.com/publication/isbn/9783111464473/downloadAsset/9783111464473_Dyirbal%20Thesaurus_Nominals%20and%20Time%20Words.pdf","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20250808052709/https://www.degruyterbrill.com/publication/isbn/9783111464473/downloadAsset/9783111464473_Dyirbal%20Thesaurus_Nominals%20and%20Time%20Words.pdf"}],"source_citations":"R. M. W. Dixon, Dyirbal Thesaurus: Nominals and Time Words (2022), entry Jo6","source_display":"R. M. W. Dixon, Dyirbal Thesaurus: Nominals and Time Words (2022), entry Jo6","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Flat carved wooden blade with a string attached to the sharp end, whirled to produce a roaring noise. Dixon's field specimen from Jirrbal consultant Spider Henry was made from jalŋgi, weeping brown pine (Podocarpus grayae).","function_display":"In Jirrbal the bullroarer shares its name with Wungumali, the spirit who helps at initiation ceremonies and spears the initiands in the knees; the Girramay word bibu carries only the mechanics.","confidence_display":"medium to high","attestation_label":"lexical attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"jabunbarra jirrbal","display_name":"Jirrbal and Girramay bibu bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/pd_plates/hambly1926_plate46.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/pd_plates/thumbs/hambly1926_plate46_thumb.jpg","alt":"Hambly’s 1926 plate of seven wooden bullroarers; no. 2 is the Mulgrave River Periperio, a narrow blade with a rounded end and an attached cord.","credit":"W. D. Hambly, Tribal Dancing and Social Development (London, 1926), plate facing p. 46","license":"Public domain in the US (published 1926)","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/tribaldancingsoc0000hamb/page/n58/mode/1up","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Hambly’s Mulgrave River bullroarer plate.","pool_id":"auto-pd_plates--hambly1926_plate46"},"slug":"dixon2022-001-jabunbarra-jirrbal-girramay"}