No. BERGSLAND1994-001
Nikolski stone roarer
United States · Alaska · Aleutian Islands · Umnak Island · Nikolski · North America · Arctic
Function not recorded
tunulaada-lix (verb)
Source term: bull-roarer (long flat stone)
tunulaada-lix: 'to make noise with a bull-roarer (long flat stone)', Nikolski, 1950; from the stem tunu-, as in tunuχ 'talk' and tununi-lix 'to make resound'.
On Umnak Island in the eastern Aleutians, the bullroarer was a long flat stone. Unangan speakers at Nikolski had a single verb for sounding it, tunulaada-lix, 'to make noise with a bull-roarer'. It grows from the same stem as tunuχ, talk, and tununi-lix, to make a drum resound. An Eastern Aleut text of 1909 already speaks of making something 'sound like a bull-roarer'.
Particulars
- Object
- A long flat stone sounded as a bullroarer.
- Function
- Sounded for its noise; no further purpose recorded.
Source
Knut Bergsland, Aleut Dictionary / Unangam Tunudgusii (Alaska Native Language Center, 1994), p. 408