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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