"Shaman"

[Andrew Glass]

> According to Soothill & Hidous the Chinese word 'sa men' is a
> phonetic rendering of zramaNa.

For those of you with unicode enabled email, the Chinese characters John is referring to are:
    沙門
Current thinking on the Gandhari Hypothesis would argue that this term reflects the Gandhari term SamaNa rather than Sanskrit zramaNa.

Andrew Glass

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John C. Huntington" <huntington.2 at OSU.EDU>
To: <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 3:23 PM
Subject: Re: "Shaman"


> Dear All,
> 
> I have no idea where the word comes from but I have heard it used by
> anthropologists to describe the ritual specialists in an animistic
> religion called "Shamanism" that circles the pacific rim.  There
> shamans in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Kampuchia, Tibetans, Chinese
> minorities especially among the Mongyur or Tu peoples among the
> Mongols, the Siberian and Alaskan Eskimos, North West coast Indians,
> the Huichol of Mexico and among the Inca of Peru. There is a
> remarkable parallelism among the activities of Shamans through out
> all of these cultures.there is also residual shamanism in Korea and
> Japan and Pakistan.  Shamans go into a ritual dance and become
> possessed by a "friend" or "guide" and descend to the underworld to
> benefit their moiety group. some shamans are epileptic although that
> is rare.  Most simply bring on the trance state or induce it with
> some substance.
> 
> There is a relatively vast literature  on the subject in religious
> studies and anthropological studies.
> 
> According to Soothill & Hidous the Chinese word 'sa men' is a
> phonetic rendering of zramaNa.
> I have included a tiny graphic of the characters, but, if I remember
> correctly, this list deletes graphics so you may not get it. (it was
> rejected)
> 
> Their similarity might just be coincidental or possibly the Chinese
> word for priest might have been adapted  during early periods of
> European contact?
> 
> John C. Huntington
> 
> >We use the same word in Russian. I always assumed, it
> >is coming from a local dialect. Unfortunately, I do
> >not have any Russian or Slavic dictionary around to
> >check it up. Perhaps, someone could do it?
> >      Regards.
> >     Marina Orelskaya
> >
> >
> >--- Valerie J Roebuck <vjroebuck at MACUNLIMITED.NET>
> >wrote:
> >>  According to the OED, it was first recorded in
> >>  English in 1698.  It now
> >>  occurs in books and newspapers without italics or
> >>  explanations, so I would
> >>  think it is.
> >>
> >>  Valerie J Roebuck
> >>  Manchester, UK
> >>
> >>  >Is "shaman" a really English word?
> >>  >
> >>  >Regards,
> >>  >Marina Orelskaya
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>  >--- Valerie J Roebuck <vjroebuck at MACUNLIMITED.NET>
> >>  >wrote:
> >>  >> What is the current thinking on the relationship
> >>  (if
> >>  >> any) between English
> >>  >> "shaman" and Sanskrit "zramaNa"?
> >
> >
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