orendan.
/ɒˈrɛndə/, U.S. /ɔˈrɛndə/ In Iroquois belief: a spirit or power thought to exist in all things.
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the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > non-European magic (miscellaneous) > [noun] > magic power
medicine1767
mana1843
anting-anting1890
orenda1902
1902 J. N. B. Hewitt in Amer. Anthropologist 4 33 (title) Orenda and a definition of religion.
1902 J. N. B. Hewitt in Amer. Anthropologist 4 37 This subsumed magic power is called..orenda by the Iroquoian tribes. And it is suggested that the Iroquoian name for the potence in question, orenda, be adopted to designate it.
1920 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Apr. 264/2 Notions of the type of mana or orenda are of ‘a nascently philosophic order’.
1947 C. S. Lewis Miracles xi. 100 It [sc. pantheism] may even be the most primitive of all religions, and the orenda of a savage tribe has been interpreted by some to be an ‘all-pervasive spirit’.
1971 J. van Baal Symbols for Communication vi. 129 The trend towards mystic participation is expressed in concepts such as mana, wakenda, orenda, and so on, which give scope to the mystic connections underlying things and events.
2000 Beaver (Winnipeg) (Nexis) July v Everyone was thought to hold a certain amount of personal power or orenda suitable for making offerings and entreaties to spirits for luck in battle, for protection of one's home and family, or to encourage the season's crops to grow well.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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