{"id":"OLKKONEN2007-001","label":"Burum-Mindik esöŋ bullroarer","people_or_site":"Burum-Mindik (Somba-Siawari)","country_current":"Papua New Guinea","historic_region":"Burum and Mindik valleys, inland southern Huon Peninsula, Morobe Province","macroregion":"Oceania / Sahul","local_name":"esöŋ (cult, spirit, and bullroarer; Siawari asa); köwawöŋ / muwum-muwum","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"Somba-Siawari / English","object_description":"Bullroarer (köwawöŋ, or echoically muwum-muwum), whirled from timbip, a bamboo pole.","function_summary":"Named for the esöŋ ancestral cult — the spirit said to swallow the boys at circumcision; its sound was feared by women and girls, who were barred from the cult ceremonies.","attestation_type":"lexical_attestation","source_key":"olkkonen_2007_burum_mindik_esong","source_type":"academic_language_description","source_url":"https://www-01.sil.org/pacific/png/pubs/928474531231/Somba-Siawari_English.pdf","page_or_plate":"printed pp. 29, 90, 172","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"WALS Burum language-area centroid; the dictionary covers the Burum-Mindik communities as a whole, so a single village pin (Mindik, Ogeranang) would claim more precision than the source supports.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"One word carried the whole institution among the Burum-Mindik of the inland Huon Peninsula: esöŋ was the ancestral cult, the circumcision it enacted, and the ancestral spirit, swallower of boys — and esöŋ was also the bullroarer, whose sound women and girls, shut out of the cult's ceremonies, had reason to fear. The everyday name was köwawöŋ or, echoing the hum itself, muwum-muwum, and the instrument whirled from a bamboo pole called timbip.","pull_quote":"esöŋnöŋ leuam gwahöt eŋgiyök","pull_quote_translation":"the ancestral spirit swallowed up the boys","pull_quote_cite":"Olkkonen & Olkkonen, Somba-Siawari — English Dictionary (SIL, 2007), p. 29","term_gloss":"esöŋ (Siawari asa) = 'ancestral cult, circumcision of boys, ancestral spirit,' also the bullroarer; köwawöŋ (variant muwum-muwum) = 'bullroarer, humming, buzzing'; timbip = 'bamboo pole with which the bull-roarer is whirled.'","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","initiation","death_rebirth","women_taboo"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":true,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Soini Olkkonen and Kaija Olkkonen, Somba-Siawari (Burum Mindik) - English Dictionary (SIL, 2007), pp. 29, 90 and 172","url":"https://www-01.sil.org/pacific/png/pubs/928474531231/Somba-Siawari_English.pdf","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20190214164936/https://www-01.sil.org/pacific/png/pubs/928474531231/Somba-Siawari_English.pdf"}],"source_citations":"Soini Olkkonen and Kaija Olkkonen, Somba-Siawari (Burum Mindik) - English Dictionary (SIL, 2007), pp. 29, 90 and 172","source_display":"Soini Olkkonen and Kaija Olkkonen, Somba-Siawari (Burum Mindik) - English Dictionary (SIL, 2007), pp. 29, 90 and 172","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Bullroarer (köwawöŋ, or echoically muwum-muwum), whirled from timbip, a bamboo pole.","function_display":"Named for the esöŋ ancestral cult — the spirit said to swallow the boys at circumcision; its sound was feared by women and girls, who were barred from the cult ceremonies.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"lexical attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"burum mindik","display_name":"Burum-Mindik esöŋ bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/bm_E_Oc1906-1013-1448.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/thumbs/bm_E_Oc1906-1013-1448_thumb.jpg","alt":"Daniels-expedition palmwood blade marked ‘Bensbach’.","credit":"© The Trustees of the British Museum (E/Oc1906,1013.1448)","license":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","source_page":"https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Oc1906-1013-1448","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Daniels-expedition palmwood blade marked ‘Bensbach’.","pool_id":"auto-museum_harvest--bm_E_Oc1906-1013-1448"},"slug":"olkkonen2007-001-burum-mindik-somba-siawari"}