[Lexicog] A prototypical blessing

[Wayne Leman]

Right, Rich, that isn't what I meant. I was referring to lexicalized ways of
referring to the power being transferred. I don't know of any word or even
circumlocution for such a lexicalization. There is a Cheyenne word for 'to
fast' (and the cultural script usually implies prayer and often a vision and
sometimes conferring of power). There is a Cheyenne word for 'to pray.'
There is a Cheyenne word that is difficult to gloss in English, but I think
the words 'authorize' and 'charismatize' come close. This last word can
refer to when an old man confers upon a younger man the authority to make
flutes. This authority is not something a person seeks, but something which
is given to him and responsibility comes along with it. There are various
words for what people do in the Sun Dance, but none that I know of for any
transfer of power. Besides, from all the questioning I have done, there is
no power transfer in the Cheyenne Sun Dance. Instead, the suffering of the
dancer is to gain the approval of the deity for granting good health to
one's family or the tribe. There have been, and I think still are, some
individuals with special spiritual powers for healing and other forms of
helping people. But here, again, there are no words that I know of for any
power involved. Cheyennes simply say of such a person ema'heoneve 'he is
spiritual' (the same word used for the deity or a sacred object). Then there
are people who "own" nesemoono, who are spirit helpers. The nesemoono can
help their owners find lost horses, people, or do other special things like
that. There is a verb, enesema, which means to 'contact the nesemoono.' But,
again, the idea of power is only implicit, not lexicalized. For that matter,
there is no Cheyenne word for 'power.' There is a word éhohaatamaahe which
can be glossed as 'he is very smart.' It can also mean 'he is feisty', I
think. It can be used of a benevolent deity, in which case I have gotten the
gloss 'he is powerful.' It doesn't seem to be a quality which is valued in
people, at least not as the word is often used. But I think this word would
be used of a person who has the special spiritual powers to do healing. This
is the closest Cheyenne lexicalized form that I know of for 'power.' I have
never heard anyone say, though, that someone becomes '-hohaatamaahe' from a
vision quest. I have never heard anyone speak of someone "getting" power. I
have never heard of any transfer of power, other than that which comes
implicitly in the spirit helper script, and there there is no word that I
know of for what the spirit helpers do for their owners, other than
garden-variety words such as "help" them.

Wayne Leman
Cheyenne project



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