balmyard

English

Alternative forms

• balm yard

Etymology

Compound of balm +‎ yard. Borrowed from Jamaican Creole balmyard.

Noun

balmyard (plural balmyards)

1. (Jamaica) A place where obeah and related healing rituals are performed.

Jamaican Creole

Alternative forms

• balm yaad, balm yard, balm-yard

Etymology

balm +‎ yard

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑːm ˈjɑːd/

Noun

balmyard (plural balmyard dem, quantified balmyard)

1. A place where obeah and pocomania rituals are practised.

   Mi a go carry him go a balm yard! For there is healing in the balm yaad.

   I'm going to take him to the balmyard! Because there's healing in the balm yard.

   • 1957, Michael Garfield Smith, Gerardus Johannes Kruijer, A Sociological Manual for Extension Workers in the Caribbean (in English), page 71:

     “This healing is in many cases linked up with obeah, for if it is true that a man gets ill because a duppy has been set on him, then the obeahman or the 'balmyard' healer and not the doctor is the right person to give advice. This kind of healing ...”

References

• Richard Allsopp, editor (1996), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 75