# shaman
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Schamane, from Russian шама́н (šamán), from Evenki шама̄н (şamān), сама̄н (samān). The Evenki word is possibly derived from the root ша- ("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.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈʃɑːmən/, /ˈʃæmən/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɑːmən, -æmən
* (General American) IPA: /ˈʃɑːmən/, /ˈʃeɪmən/, /ʃəˈmɑːn/
* Rhymes: -ɑːmən, -eɪmən, -ɑːn

### Noun

shaman (plural shamans)
* A traditional faith healer.
    Synonym: witch doctor
* A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds; sometimes also a healer.
    Hyponym: wu (Chinese shaman)
    Near-synonyms: medicine man, medicine woman, priest-doctor, witch doctor
** 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Tuchanka:Shepard: What rites did you go through to become chief shaman? Shaman: Becoming the shaman is excruciating. I passed through rites that made me wish to die. I carry the scars on my soul. Shaman: I must perform rites each dawn and dusk to keep me bound into our krogan nature. Our spirit is one of violence and death. I must be attuned to that.

#### Usage notes

* The plural form is shamans, not shamen; the etymologically-consistent plural form from the original Evenki is shamasal, but this form sees no use in English; the plural form shamans is, however, universally accepted.

#### Derived terms

* plastic shaman
* shamaness
* shamanism
* shamanize
* shamen (hypercorrect plural)
* technoshaman

#### Translations
### References

* 1 2 “shaman”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
* ↑ “shaman”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* ↑ Mihály, Hoppál. Sámánok Eurázsiában (Budapest: Akadémiai K., 2005), 15
* 1 2 Fortson, Benjamin W. (2010) Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, second edition, Oxford: Blackwell
* 1 2 “shaman, n. (and a.)” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
* 1 2 3 “shaman” listed in Merriam–Webster’s Online Dictionary (retrieved on 19 September 2008)
* 1 2 “shaman” listed in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition (2000)
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ 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”, page 103 (John Benjamin’s Publishing Company; →ISBN […] 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).
* ↑ 2005, Peter Metcalf, Anthropology: The Basics, box 7.3: “Shamanism”, page 132 (Routledge; →ISBN Note that the plural of shaman is shamans, not shamen.

### Anagrams

* Ashman, Hamans, Mahans, ashman