[Lexicog] A prototypical blessing

[Peter Kirk]

On 22/04/2004 15:51, phil cash cash wrote:

> much like Wayne suggested, this is also true for nez perce (sahaptian)
> of the interior NW US.  there is no indigenous word for blessing.  it
> was not until the missionaries arrive that such words were introduced
> into the nez perce lexicon.  of course, with their power to create
> dictionaries, words of christian worship, heavean/hell, sin, etc.,
> occured in abundance.
>
> i would suggest that what you know as "blessing" is a matter of world
> view and not so much a matter of if such words exist or not.
>
> phil cash cash (cayuse/nez perce)
>
Well, until the Spanish arrived there couldn't have been indigenous
words about horses either, but these multiplied quickly when the horses
did. Maybe when God's blessings multiply, or at least the understanding
of them and the corresponding world view does, the corresponding words
will multiply.

As for the world view point, the concept of blessing (except of a
strictly material sort) is probably just as hard to understand in the
modern secular and materialist west as it is for native Americans. It
just doesn't make sense to give someone a blessing, unless it is a gift
or favour, or a promise of a future gift or favour.

--
Peter Kirk
peter at qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk at qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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