muruk

muruk

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Suggested source is Kuanua - more details?

Some of Mihalic’s examples need clarification.

Species found in New Guinea are: the Double-Wattled or Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, also found in North Queensland; the smaller Bennett’s or Dwarf Cassowary, Casuarius benetti, rarer and usually found at higher altitudes, and the Single-Wattled or Northern Cassowary, Casuarius unappendiculatus, which has a distinctive yellow throat.

See original Mihalic entry.

Southern Cassowary, Maegmol village, Jimi Valley, Western Highlands Province, 1980.

Noun forms

Fauna: the cassowary
kapa bilong muruk a cassowary claw: can used as a spear point in the highlands
muruk tambu if the cassowary is a clan totem of a clan, it can be taboo and not eaten; then it is muruk tambu
nil bilong muruk cassowary claw
plet bilong muruk the breastbone of the cassowary
singsing bilong muruk the cassowary bone which is used as a charm for a native signal drum or slit gong; its presence, they say, makes the drum signals travel as far and fast as the cassowary

Noun combination forms

Material culture: bun bilong muruk a sharpened cassowary femur bone: universally a man’s possession, used variously as (i) a spatula for betel lime, (ii) a dagger worn in the belt as a standard item of male traditional dress (notably in Tari), (iii) decorated with incised design (for example among the Abelam), (iv) a special tool to cut up marita pandanus fruit when prepared for cooking in an earth oven at least Western Highlands, Southern Highlands).

Kind of person: lek muruk more likely than not in a derrogory sense, a person who has spindly legs (probably meaning underfed, not prosperous); by extension a sneering term for an ethnic group whose members supposedly have this body shape
maski, larim em go painim lek muruk meri ya! forget it, let him go off with that skin-and-bones woman!

Kind of person: longpela muruk used in jest, a person with long legs
o, longpela muruk i kam! hey, here comes that tall fellow!

Physiology: nok bilong muruk the special wingbone of the cassowary used by New Guineans as a nose decoration or also as a needle in weaving armlets ® nok