Angakok

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A spiritual leader within Inuit traditions known for their healing practices, communication with the spirit world, and participation in community rituals
2. An individual in Arctic indigenous culture who specializes in healing, spirit communication, and performing significant rituals for their community
3. A person in Inuit culture who serves as a spiritual healer, acts as an intermediary with spirits, and conducts important cultural ceremonies for the community

Etymology: The English word comes from Greenlandic "angakkoq," the term used in Greenland for a shaman, a person who mediates between the human community and the spirit world. Its meaning in the source language is tied to that role: the figure who treats illness, communicates with spirits, and performs the rites that keep the community in balance. English borrowed the term to describe this same figure across Inuit cultures, a kind of cultural specialist that outsiders often rendered simply as "shaman." The English form "angakok" reflects the Inuit word in its everyday spelling, shortened from the Greenlandic ending. Because the word travelled from Greenlandic into English rather than through a European language, it is a direct loan from an Indigenous language, which is why it remains closer to the original than many words that passed through several intermediaries.

Synonyms: shaman