churinga

American  

[choo-ring-guh] / tʃʊˈrɪŋ gə /

noun

• churinga,
  plural
• churingas
  plural

1. an object carved from wood or stone by Aboriginal tribes in central Australia and held by them to be sacred.

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churinga British  

/ tʃəˈrɪŋɡə /

noun

1. a sacred amulet of the native Australians

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• churinga
  plural
• churingas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of churinga

First recorded in 1895–1900, churinga is from the Aranda word jwerreŋe

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

churinga

I wrote to the Glasgow Herald, adducing the Australian churinga nanja as parallel to Mr. Donnelly’s inscribed stones, and thus my share in the controversy began. 

From The Clyde Mystery a Study in Forgeries and Folklore by Andrew Lang

Meanwhile most churinga, and many of the disputed objects, have archaic markings, which also occur on rock faces.

From The Clyde Mystery a Study in Forgeries and Folklore by Andrew Lang

If I have established the parallelism between Arunta churinga nanja and the disputed Clyde “pendants,” which Dr. Munro denies, we are reduced to one of two theories. 

From The Clyde Mystery a Study in Forgeries and Folklore by Andrew Lang

Dr. Munro, perhaps, would think wooden churinga, used for magical ends, “incongruous with the earlier Scottish civilisation.”

From The Clyde Mystery a Study in Forgeries and Folklore by Andrew Lang

The churinga nanja of its primal ancestor is sought for at the place of the child’s conception, and is put into the sacred repository of such objects.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various