shaman

noun
/ˈʃɑːmən/UK/ˈʃɑːmən/US

Etymology

Borrowed from German Schamane, from Russian шама́н (šamán), from Evenki шама̄н (şamān), сама̄н (samān), from Proto-Tungusic *samān. The Evenki word is possibly derived from the root ша- (şa-, “to know”); or else a loanword from Tocharian B ṣamāne (“monk”) or Chinese 沙門 /沙门 (shāmén, “Buddhist monk”), from Pali samaṇa from Sanskrit श्रमण (śramaṇa, “ascetic, monk, devotee”), from श्रम (śrama, “weariness, exhaustion; labor, toil; etc.”), which would make this a doublet of sramana.

  1. derived from श्रमण#Noun_2 — “ascetic, monk, devotee
  2. derived from samaṇa
  3. derived from 沙門 — “Buddhist monk
  4. derived from ṣamāne — “monk
  5. derived from *samān
  6. derived from шама̄н
  7. derived from шама́н
  8. borrowed from Schamane

Definitions

  1. A traditional faith healer.

  2. A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a spiritual or religious medium between…

    A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds; sometimes also a healer.

    • Near-synonyms: medicine man, medicine woman, priest-doctor, witch doctor

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for shaman. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA