medicine man

English

Probably a calque of Ojibwe mashkikiiwinini (“doctor”), from mashkiki (“medicine”) +‎ inini (“man”).

medicine man (plural medicine men)

A Native American shamanistic healer.
- 1855, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, XIV,
  And the Jossakeeds, the Prophets,
  The Wabenos, the Magicians,
  And the Medicine-men, the Medas,
  Painted upon bark and deer-skin
  Figures for the songs they chanted
- 1891, W. Fletcher Johnson, Life of Sitting Bull and History of the Indian War of 1890-’91, Edgewood Publishing Co., p. 41,
  Sitting Bull is commonly thought of as a warrior. In point of fact he was not. He was a “medicine man;” which means that he included within himself the three professions of the priesthood, medicine and law.
A traditional healer among other indigenous peoples.
- 1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 11, column 1:
  "I'm sorry kiddies," he said, "but I haven't very much faith in Medicine Men."
- 1958, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, London: William Heinemann, Chapter 9,
  After the death of Ekwefi's second child, Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man, who was also a diviner of the Afa Oracle, to enquire what was amiss.

shamanistic healer