shaman

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Usage notes 1.3.2 Derived terms 1.3.3 Synonyms 1.3.4 Translations 1.3.5 References

[edit] English

Wikipedia

[edit] Etymology

From Russian шаман (šamán), from Evenki шаман (šamán).

[edit] Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈʃɑːmən/^[1], /ˈʃæmən/^[1]

• Rhymes: -ɑːmən, -æmən

• (GenAm) IPA: /ˈʃɑːmən/^[2][3], /ˈʃeɪmən/^[2][3], /ʃəˈmɑːn/^[2]

• Rhymes: -ɑːmən, -eɪmən, -əmɑːn

[edit] Noun

shaman (plural shamans)

1. A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds.

[edit] Usage notes

• The plural form is shamans, not shamen;^[4] the etymologically-consistent plural form from the original Evenki is shamasal,^[5] but this form sees no use in English; the plural form shamans is, however, universally accepted.^[6]

[edit] Derived terms

• shamanism
• shamen (hypercorrect plural)

[edit] Synonyms

• (religious medium): priest-doctor, witch doctor

[edit] Translations

[edit] References

• Notes:

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} “shaman, n. (and a.)” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} “shaman” listed in Merriam–Webster’s Online Dictionary (retrieved on the 19^th day of September in 2008)
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} “shaman” listed in The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language [4^th Ed.; 2000]
4. ^ 1978: Carl B. Compton, The Interamerican, volume 25, №3 (Instituto Interamericano, Denton, Texas)
     We learn from our readers: We have been wrong in writing the word “shamen” as a plural for “shaman”. The word probably comes from Russian and there is no plural except that made by adding an ‘s’ — e.g. Shamans.
5. ^ 2003: Howard Isaac Aronson, Dee Ann Holisky, and Kevin Tuite, Current Trends in Caucasian, East European, and Inner Asian Linguistics — “Dialect Continua in Tungusic: Plural Morphology”, p103 (John Benjamin’s Publishing Company; ISBN 1588114619)
     […] we note here that -sal tends to exist only as a residual plural marker in -l/-r dialects. For example, in Standard Evenki, as in the Evenki dialects of the Amur basin and the Vivin dialect, use of -sal is limited to a small number of nouns (e.g. bajan “rich person”, pl. bajasal; ɲami:, “female reindeer”, pl. ɲami:sal or ɲami:səl; aβlan “field”, pl. aβlasal; sama:n “shaman”, pl. sama:sal).
6. ^ 2005: Peter Metcalf, Anthropology: The Basics, box 7.3: “Shamanism”, page 132 (Routledge; ISBN 0415331196)
     Note that the plural of shaman is shamans, not shamen.