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Shaman vs Prophet - What's the difference?

shaman | prophet |

As nouns the difference between shaman and prophet

is that shaman is a traditional (prescientific) faith healer while prophet is someone who speaks by divine inspiration.

As a proper noun Prophet is

any of the prophets mentioned in the Bible, especially an author of one of the Prophets.

shaman

English

(wikipedia shaman)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A traditional (prescientific) faith healer.
  • A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds.
  • 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) * technoshaman

    Synonyms

    * (religious medium) priest-doctor, witch doctor

    References

    prophet

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone who speaks by divine inspiration.
  • Muslims believe that Muhammad was the final prophet sent to mankind.
  • Someone who predicts the future; a soothsayer.
  • Derived terms

    * prophecy * prophesise, prophesize nonstandard * prophesy * prophetess