[Lexicog] A prototypical blessing

[Mali Translation]

Wayne,

Yes, I am surprized that the idea of "blessing/empowering" is not
lexicalized in Cheyenne. You seem to have people that can cast
a spell, as you said in an earlier mail. These "power" people
(shamans, or marabouts in my part of the world) usually have
the power to break a spell, too. The question is, of course, with which
"power" these practioners work. But the power word alone, be it
baraka or whatever is lexicalized, I assume. How it is semantically
filled is another matter, but it can be redefined, and in my
opinion be used to convey the idea of "blessing": to transmit
baraka, to convey baraka, to pass on baraka. Baraka might not
have all the sense components of biblical "blessing", but it
is always positive, and hence a good candidate to be reinterpreted.
Do you have such a "power" word in Cheyenne?

Fritz

P.S.: I need to emphasize that "power" does not equal "blessing", rather
      "blessing" is an empowerment. To anyone who is interested,
      I can send a revealing story, which I collected from a holy man
      in West Africa, about what baraka is.


> > Phil,
> >
> > I agree about the world view but probably we have to distinguish
> > between words and concepts.
>
> Yes, sometimes this is necessary, Fritz.
>
> > Even if a word for "blessing" does not exist in Cheyenne or Nez Perce,
> > I would imagine the idea of "conveying or transmitting power" exists.
>
> Not in Cheyenne.

I need to explain my answer a bit more : I don't think that the idea of
conveying or transmitting power has been lexicalized in Cheyenne. However,
there are many stories about people who received power from helper spirits,
animals, etc. However, the idea is there, but it is only in the script, not
lexicalized. For a people who go on vision quests and have traditionally
worked with helper spirits I find this quite interesting, that something so
culturally salient would not be lexicalized.

This, of course, raises interested questions for lexicography, doesn't it?
What is the relationship between cultural ideas and actions and
lexicalization? Is there any way of predicting what aspects of culture will
be lexicalized in a language?

Wayne Leman
Cheyenne project







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