BLENCHDICT-003 - lexical attestation
Nupe kèrè in traditional worship
Nigeria - Niger State - Nupe country - Africa
Sacred / spirit
kèrè
Source term: Bullroarer
bullroarer used in traditional worship
Nupe country lies along the Niger above its meeting with the Kaduna, with Bida at its centre — a town long famous for its brass-smiths, glass-bead makers and river traders, and Muslim for generations. The dictionary's entry for kèrè is one line long and points somewhere older: a bullroarer used in traditional worship. No deity is named, no rite, no season, no one who swung it. What survives is the word, and the fact that its business was worship, not play.
kèrè n. mi Bullroarer used in traditional worship.
Roger Blench, A Dictionary of Nupe, printed p. 96.
- Object
- A bullroarer called kèrè among Nupe speakers of the Niger–Kaduna confluence in central Nigeria; construction, material and dimensions are not described.
- Function
- Used in traditional worship.
- Source
- Roger Blench, A Dictionary of Nupe
- Source location
Page references
Printed p. 96; supplementary alternate term on printed p. 140
- Source confidence
- medium Bida cultural-center anchor; not an object findspot