Chokwe (Tsokwe) ndumbamwela bullroarer

ndumbamwela

Source term: Schwirrholz

ndumbamwela: "lion-roaring", Baumann's gloss (Löwenbrüllen).

Hermann Baumann asked after bullroarers among the Tsokwe for a long time and got nothing, until one day, while he was asking about children's games, a man turned up with one and demonstrated it as a toy. Baumann wondered afterward whether the lion in its name once meant more, echoing the roaring that opens circumcision rites elsewhere in the region.

Das flache, ovale Brett hatte ein Loch in der Mitte und wurde mit einer Rindenschnur um den Kopf geschwungen. Er nannte es "ndumbamwela", d. h. Löwenbrüllen.

The flat, oval board had a hole in the middle and was swung around the head on a bark cord. He called it "ndumbamwela," that is, lion-roaring.

Baumann 1932:13

Particulars

Object

A flat oval board with a single central hole, whirled on a bark cord.

Function

A children's toy.