storyknife

English

Etymology

story +‎ knife

Noun

storyknife (plural storyknives)

1. A carved knife made for a Yup'ik girl to use for storyknifing.
   • 1985, Judith Kleinfeld, Alaska's Small Rural High Schools: Are They Working?, page 111:

     Pretty Girt Students sell a packet containing a hand-carved storyknife, examples of stories, and illustrations. Villagers tell stories and illustrate them with drawings carved in the snow, mud, or sand.

   • 1994, Jaipaul L. Roopnarine, James Ewald Johnson, Frank H. Hooper, Children's Play in Diverse Cultures, →ISBN, page 188:

     This is confirmed by Molly, a ten-year-old cousin, who comes into the kitchen waving her storyknife at us.

   • 2005, Ann Fienup-Riordan, Wise Words of the Yup'ik People: We Talk to You Because We Love You, →ISBN:

     Back when we used the storyknife all the time, qulirat [traditional tales] were readily available.

   • 2013, Carolyn Kremers, Upriver, →ISBN, page xii:

     A Yup'ik Eskimo storyknife was usually made from wood, bone, or ivory by a father, uncle, or grandfather for a young girl in the family.

Anagrams

• knifestory