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

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

Designs of the same class are incised, by the same Australian tribes, on stones of various p. 23shapes and sizes, usually portable, and variously shaped which are styled churinga nanja. 

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

At daylight the man stands up alone and swings the churinga, causing it first to strike the ground as he whirls it round and round and makes it hum.

From Primitive Love and Love-Stories by Henry Theophilus Finck

This licence is absolutely confined to the limited region in which stone churinga nanja occur.

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

Each of these Alcheringa ancestors carried about with him or her one or more of the sacred stones called churinga.

From Folklore as an Historical Science by George Laurence Gomme