Shaman vs Chief - What's the difference?
shaman | chief |
A traditional (prescientific) faith healer.
A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds.
(senseid)A leader or head of a group of people, organisation, etc.
* 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 4:
(heraldiccharge) The top part of a shield or escutcheon.
* 1889 , Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry :
(senseid)A head officer in a department, organization etc.; a boss.
An informal address to an equal.
Primary; principal.
As nouns the difference between shaman and chief
is that shaman is while chief is (senseid)a leader or head of a group of people, organisation, etc.As an adjective chief is
primary; principal.shaman
English
(wikipedia shaman)Noun
(en noun)Usage notes
* The plural form is (shamans), not shamen;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.the etymologically-consistent plural form from the original Evenki is (term),'''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”, [http://books.google.com/books?id=REPC96ddSc0C&pg=PA103&dq=shaman+plural&lr=&num=100&as_brr=0&ei=M6bZR8eDJtC4igHPzKnVAQ&sig=I8R0SWIUh1gFGJIDmQFnJ62qYXI page 103] ([http://www.benjamins.com/ 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''; ''?ami:'', “female reindeer”, pl. ''?ami:sal'' or ''?ami:s?l''; ''a?lan'' “field”, pl. ''a?lasal''; ''sama:n'' “shaman”, pl. '''''sama:sal'''''). but this form sees no use in English; the plural form shamans is, however, universally accepted.'''2005''', Peter Metcalf, ''Anthropology: The Basics'', box 7.3: “Shamanism”, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=yAYaiGedL_4C&pg=PA132&dq=shamen+plural&ei=9kPRSKymHJ7QigGyztnmAw&sig=ACfU3U0e-abwShaVZyKNBbrSUNQ-aQ71Rw page 132] ([http://www.routledge.com/ Routledge; ISBN 0415331196) Note that the plural of shaman is ' shamans , not shamen.
Derived terms
* shamanism * shamanize * shamen (hypercorrect plural) * technoshamanSynonyms
* (religious medium) priest-doctor, witch doctorReferences
chief
English
(wikipedia chief)Noun
(en noun)- My father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a chief by both blood and custom.
- When the Chief' is Charged with any figure, in blazon it is said to be "''On a '''Chief ".
- All firefighters report to the fire chief .
- Hey, chief.
Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
(chief) * chief constable * chiefess * chief executive * chief executive officer/CEO * chief legal officer * chief mate * chief of staff * chief of state * chief petty officer * commander in chief * dexter chief * editor in chief * fire chief * in chief * police chief * war chiefAdjective
(-)- Negligence was the chief cause of the disaster.