The Bullroarer Atlas

No. MCELHANON1970-001

Selepet mowuŋ mowuŋ and the small hiwawe

Papua New Guinea · Huon Peninsula, Morobe Province · Oceania · Sahul

Function not recorded

The mask-lot blade 1938.34.34, a face carved above the plain lower body
Plate I. Representative — not this record’s object. The mask-lot blade 1938.34.34, a face carved above the plain lower body Image source

mowuŋ mowuŋ; hiwawe (small type); weke tebe; welem (Northern dialect)

Source term: bull roarer

mowuŋ mowuŋ: bullroarer; also weke tebe, and welem in the Northern dialect. hiwawe: a small type of bullroarer.

The Selepet of the Huon Peninsula had several names for the bullroarer. The usual one was mowuŋ mowuŋ; a small kind was hiwawe. In the north it was also welem, and weke tebe was another name again. Their neighbours the Burum-Mindik called their own roarer muwum-muwum.

Particulars

Object
Two kinds named: the bullroarer, mowuŋ mowuŋ, and hiwawe, a small type. No physical description recorded.
Function
Not recorded.

Source

K. A. McElhanon and N. A. McElhanon, Selepet-English Dictionary, Pacific Linguistics C-15 (1970), pp. 53, 91

View the source

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Part of The Bullroarer Atlas, companion to The Eve Theory of Consciousness.