gris-gris

gris-gris

English

Alternative forms

• greegree, gri-gri, grigri, grisgris

Etymology

Unknown. Compare juju (“a fetish or charm”); compare also Mande gerregery or Mandingo gregory, an amulet or curse-object.[1]

Noun

gris-gris (plural gris-gris)

1. An African, or Afro-American, charm or talisman.
   • 1865, David Livingstone and Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries:

     A horn, or rude image, is sometimes made use of as a means of preserving the medicines of defense, and is worn as an amulet. These images, horns, or other articles, called greegrees, or jeujeus, are not held sacred for a moment after the medicine is found to have lost its power […].

   • 2008, Ned Sublette, The World That Made New Orleans, Lawrence Hill Books 2009, p. 61:

     The Bambara were not Muslim, but they knew how to make gris-gris.

Translations

charm

French: grigri (fr) m

See also

• gris-gris on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• conjuration
• conjure (noun)
• hoodoo

References

1. Jeffery Elton Anderson (2002) Conjure in African-American Society, PhD dissertation, University of Florida

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French

Noun

gris-gris m (plural gris-gris)

1. Alternative spelling of grigri (“A spell; an evil spirit”)
   • 2014, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Tram 83:

     Selon les colportages du Tram 83, toutes les femmes de la Ville-Pays se servaient sauvagement des gris-gris pour alpaguer leur proie.

     According to the rumours at Tram 83, all the women in the City-State made aggressive use of charms to ensnare their prey.