Definitions
Etymologies
- Supposedly coined in 1902 by American ethnologist John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt using a Wyandot (Iroquoian) cognate to Mohawk orę́˙naʔ ("inherent power"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The Indians wanted very much to observe Champlain himself and judge the strength of his vital spirit, which the Huron called orenda.”
“In a land dominated by disparate native tribes, some wanting trade, others wanting scalps, having good orenda is a must.”
Tom Alderman: The Man With Big Orenda - An Audio Book Review
“One ethnohistorian has written of the Indian belief that “orenda can reside in an object, and clearly guns had power.””
“They believed that all natural things had orenda in different degrees.”
“Good hunters had strong orenda, more so than the animals they killed.”
“It was an act of extravagant generosity—and a splendid display of orenda.19”
“Among the Indians, his abstinence added to his orenda, or spiritual power.69”
“For discussion of orenda, see William Engelbrecht, Iroquoia, 4–6, 145–46; Hope L.”
“A great noble of the Iroquois nation" wouldn't have called on "manitou, the great spirit in things"; he'd have called it "orenda.”
“Within the circle of dancers the shaman stood unterrified, uttering his threatenings and adjurations and performing his exorcisms against the foes of his people and their orenda or "medicine," when there would come a pause in the dancing.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘orenda’.
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persnickety parlance
behoove, ebullient, insouciant, insipient, froth, quandary, quixotic, tendril, maktub, furrow, furl, anastrophe and 1076 more...
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Native Tongue
Words from other languages that have become part of my own.
kagakshi, pespeyason, mskoda, potawatomi, athabaskan, waglula, fu, weemoed, solidarność, congou, darjeeling, alpe d'huez and 41 more...
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two
more
et cetera, id est, contraption, aphid, stat, magnum opus, foundry, ◬, klaxon, virago, sleuth, hoosegow and 88 more...
Tweets
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super-julia dictionary.com entry: "a supernatural force believed by the Iroquois Indians to be present, in varying degrees, in all objects or persons, and to be the spiritual force by which human accomplishment is attained or accounted for." Feb 12, 2009