The Bullroarer Atlas

MUS2026-187 - museum specimen

Villefranche-de-Lauragais

France - Haute-Garonne - Lauragais - Europe

Function not recorded

Fish-tailed pine rhombe from Villefranche-de-Lauragais, Mucem 1893.3.4.
Fish-tailed pine rhombe from Villefranche-de-Lauragais, Mucem 1893.3.4. Image source

Source term: rhombe

rhombe: French technical/common term for a whirled sounding slat (bullroarer).

Ten grams of fir with its base cut into a fish tail — whirled on its single long string, the little rhombe from Villefranche-de-Lauragais 'imitates the rumble of thunder,' its museum notice says. It entered the national collections in 1893 from the Lauragais wheat country south-east of Toulouse, recorded as both made and used in the town — a rare double certainty for a French folk bullroarer.

Petite planchette de bois (sapin) dont la base est taillée en forme de queue de poisson

Small wooden board (fir) whose base is cut in the shape of a fish tail

POP/Joconde notice 50020020791 (Mucem 1893.3.4)
Object
Thin fir board, 13 x 9 x 0.4 cm and ten grams, its base cut into a fish tail, with a single long string; Mucem/MNATP 1893.3.4, acquired 1893.
Function
The museum records only that it imitates the rumble of thunder when whirled.
Map confidence
high - OpenStreetMap Villefranche-de-Lauragais commune anchor matching the record's lieu d'exécution/lieu d'utilisation; not a documented performance site.
Source location
Joconde 50020020791; Mucem 1893.3.4

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