んぶる

Yonaguni

Etymology

From Proto-Ryukyuan *tuburu (“head; calabash”). Cognate with Yaeyama つぃ゚ぶりぃ゚ (tsïburï, “head; calabash; trunk of a shamisen”), Miyako つぃ゚ぐーい゚ (tsïgūz, “calabash”) Okinawan ちぶる (chiburu, “head; calabash”), Kunigami ちんぶ (chinbu, “head; calabash”), Northern Amami Ōshima つぃ゚ぶる (tsïburu, “round and well head; head (insult); calabash; tool to make shōchū”); also cognate with Japanese 頭 (tsuburi, tsumuri, “head; something round”).

Pronunciation

• (Sonai) IPA^(key): [m̀búɾú]

Noun

んぶる (nburu) 

1. calabash; bottle gourd

Derived terms

• みんぶる (minburu, “head”)

References

• Hōsei Daigaku Okinawa Bunka Kenkyūjo (法政大学沖縄文化研究所) (1987) “琉球の方言１１巻：八重山・与那国島 [Ryukyuan Dialects 11: Yonaguni-jima, Yaeyama]”, in Ryūkyū no Hōgen (琉球の方言), volume 11, →DOI, pages 01-359

• Ikema, Nae (池間苗) (2003) 与那国語辞典 [Yonaguni Language Dictionary], Yonaguni: private publication, →OCLC, page 355