Shaman vs Oracle - What's the difference?
shaman | oracle |
A traditional (prescientific) faith healer.
A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds.
A shrine dedicated to some prophetic deity.
* Milton:
A person such as a priest through whom the deity is supposed to respond with prophecy or advice.
A prophetic response, often enigmatic or allegorical, so given.
* Drayton:
A person considered to be a source of wisdom.
* Macaulay:
* Tennyson:
A wise sentence or decision of great authority.
One who communicates a divine command; an angel; a prophet.
* Milton:
(computing theory) A theoretical entity capable of answering some collection of questions.
(Jewish antiquity) The sanctuary, or most holy place in the temple; also, the temple itself.
* Milton:
* Bible , 1 Kings 6:19, King James Version:
As nouns the difference between shaman and oracle
is that shaman is a traditional (prescientific) faith healer while oracle is a shrine dedicated to some prophetic deity.As a verb oracle is
to utter oracles or prophecies.As a proper noun Oracle is
a database management system (and its associated software) developed by the Oracle Corporationshaman
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
oracle
English
(wikipedia oracle)Noun
(en noun)- The oracles are dumb; / No voice or hideous hum / Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.
- Whatso'er she saith, for oracles must stand.
- a literary oracle
- The country rectors thought him an oracle on points of learning.
- oracles of mode
- God hath now sent his living oracle / Into the world to teach his final will.
- Siloa's brook, that flow'd / Fast by the oracle of God.
- And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
