jumbie bead
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English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Abrus_precatorius%2C_threaded_seeds.jpg/220px-Abrus_precatorius%2C_threaded_seeds.jpg)
Etymology
[edit]Of jumbie + bead. The initial portion is apparently from Kongo zumbi (“fetish, spirit”) or Kimbundu nzumbi (“god”).[1] Compare zombie.
Noun
[edit]jumbie bead (plural jumbie beads)
- A jequirity bean, the seed of the jequirity plant (Abrus precatorius) used in beadwork or making percussion instruments.
- Synonyms: jumble-bead, jumbie bean, rosary pea
- 2007, Sislyn Peters, Undocumented Citizen, page 179:
- “Dat too much. You pick de jumbie bead by de wayside, and run piece o’ string through dem, an’ you chargin’ me four dallaz? You got to be crims-crams. You crims-crams?” I asked.
- 2012, Robert Wyndham Nicholls, The Jumbies’ Playing Ground, page 12:
- In the Eastern Caribbean, Abrus seeds (Jumbie beads, John Crow beads in Jamaica) are made into necklaces and bracelets to serve as protection against Jumbies and malevolent forces.
References
[edit]- ^ “jumbie bead, n.” under “jumbie, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2022.