The Bullroarer Atlas

No. WEBONARY-001

Dholuo obuya, the toy that roars

Western Kenya · Lake Victoria basin · Africa

Play / practical

A long, thin wooden Ugandan toy bullroarer, broad and split at one end and pierced near its tapering end for a long cotton cord.
Plate I. Representative — not this record’s object. A Ugandan toy bullroarer with its cord (British Museum) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Image source

obuya

Source term: bull-roarer noise maker

toy bull-roarer/noisemaker

Luo country runs along the eastern shore of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, around Kisumu — a world of lake fishing, sorghum and maize gardens, and cattle. Among its playthings is one with a roar: obuya, the Dholuo bull-roarer noise maker.

toy n obuya (bull-roarer noise maker)

Webonary Dholuo reversal index, printed p. 285.

Particulars

Object
A bullroarer noisemaker called obuya in Dholuo, from the Lake Victoria basin of western Kenya; no material, dimensions or cord are recorded.
Function
A toy noisemaker.

Source

Webonary, Dholuo reversal index, printed p. 285

View the source · archived

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