Wandjinan.
/ˈwɒndʒɪnə/, U.S. /ˈwɑndʒɪnə/, Australian English /ˈwɔndʒɪnə/ Australian.
(A member of) an Aboriginal spirit people depicted in rock paintings of the Kimberley Ranges in Western Australia. Frequently attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > [noun]
ghostOE
spiritc1350
minda1398
sprite?1440
intelligencea1456
esperite1477
intelligency1582
genio1590
geniusa1592
ethereal1610
spirituality1628
supernatural1660
jynx1662
duende1691
atua1769
nat1819
demon1822
Wandjina1938
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > [adjective]
Wandjina1958
1930 Oceania 1 259 I shall describe the paintings... A large man..depicted horizontally along the rock-face. He has eyes and nose but no mouth... Figures of this kind are called wondjina in the language.]
1938 A. P. Elkin Austral. Aborigines 179 Each gallery includes at least one painting of a personal being known as Wondjina, associated with the sky, rain, rainbow, the rainbow-serpent, [etc.].
1958 F. D. McCarthy Austral. Aboriginal Rock Art 53 The huge Wandjina..paintings of the Kimberleys.
1965 Austral. Encycl. I. 49/2 The Wandjina's travels belong to the Ungud or ‘Dreaming’ period..but, being Ungud, they are timeless, and their potency remains.
1988 Antiquity 62 692/2 Ancestral beings collectively named Wandjina.., after creative journeys which left the land and all living matter in its present form, painted themselves in a rock-shelter in the clan estate.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1993; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.1938