orenda

English

Etymology

Supposedly coined in 1902 by American ethnologist John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt using a Wyandot (Iroquoian) cognate to Mohawk orę́·naʔ (“inherent power”).[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɔˈɹɛn.də/, /oʊˈɹɛn.də/
  • Rhymes: -ɛndə

Noun

orenda (uncountable)

  1. A mystical power thought by the Iroquois to pervade all things.
    • 1920, George Willis Cooke, The Social Evolution of Religion:
      In the Handbook of American Indians, Alice Fletcher describes the Iroquois conception of orenda as "a fictive force, principle, or magic power"

See also

References

  1. ^ “orenda”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

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