Trieste la striga bullroarer

la striga

Source term: la striga; the game 'far el vento'

la striga — Triestine 'the witch' (strega); the game was far el vento, 'to make the wind'.

In Trieste the bullroarer was cut from the lightest wood to hand — the slats of orange crates — thirty to sixty centimetres long, a hole at one end, whirled at a run through the summer streets. Sixty years before Battaglia wrote, the children of Rozzol-Settefontane called its dark voice la striga, the witch, and shouted to each other to hear her screech. Other Trieste boys named the game itself: far el vento, making the wind.

'Senti come che ziga la striga', esclamavano i monelli udendo la voce cupa e impressionante del rombo.

'Hear how the witch screeches!' the urchins cried on hearing the deep, unsettling voice of the bullroarer.

Battaglia 1925:200

Particulars

Object

Rectangular or elongated-oval slat, 30-60 cm, cut from the light wood of orange crates, a hole at one end for the whirling cord. On the colle di San Vito, boys whirled a flat stone on a string the same way — Battaglia's 'new and uncommon type of rombo' in which a stone replaces the usual wooden slat.

Function

Boys' summer toy, whirled at a run through the streets; its deep voice earned it the district name la striga, 'the witch', and the game itself was called far el vento, 'making the wind'.