2635: 'Medicine' in Ojibwe Mar 5, 2022

There are a number of phrases from Native American sources such as Ojibwe and Cree, that use 'medicine' in a way it isn't seen much otherwise to mean 'magic'. Phrases like

Medicine lodge (also known as 'sweat lodge')

Medicine dance

Medicine bag

Medicine wheel

all use this to name a few examples, and there are even a number of place-names that take from these. This is not only because of more old-fashioned views of medicine, but that the Ojibwe word in all of these examples is 'mashkiki' can mean 'medicine' but also 'grass; herbs' and 'drug' not only here but in many Algonquian languages.