Tuvan English

proper name Great Yenisei River

proper name supreme god

noun phrase Milky way (literally road of sky)

noun phrase black sky (the origin of the strongest shamans)

noun phrase Milky way (literally road of darkness)

noun phrase Orion (literally evening Venus)

proper name names of the main god

noun phrase Orion

proper name name of the main god (literally universe-world)

noun phrase Mount Suree - border between the worlds of life and dead

proper name alternative names of a supreme god

noun phrase nine skys (in shamanism meaning nine worlds of the upper universe)

proper name name of the master of the middle world (literally earth-water)

noun phrase hell (literally land of devils)

noun blessed energy (coming from the depictions of saints in buddhism and from reading prayers)

noun phrase white soul (which comes to living relatives in the image of a dead person)

verb get shaman’s illness (meaning become a shaman) (literally get possessed by devils)

noun phrase golden breath (balanced condition of an organism)

noun shaman ritual of cleansing

noun pay for shaman services

noun phrase middle world / universe (literally this universe / world)

noun phrase grey soul (which stays on earth and bothers life relatives)

noun phrase lama-shaman

noun phrase ritual of invocation for happiness

noun / verb animist ritual, tribal prayings (holiday)

noun smal drum (used by lamas)

noun phrase life soul

noun phrase a person suffering in his/her life of some kind of harmness / obsticle

noun doll mockup made out of dead person’s clothes

noun phrase middle soul (used by Southern Tuvans)

noun shaman drum

noun Mongolian calendar

noun blessing, parting wishes/words, wishes

noun phrase prohibited direction of funerals (literally mouth of a black dog)

noun big drum (used by lamas)

noun phrase main soul

noun mind, consciousness

verb healing with a help of a shaman mirror kyuzyungyu

noun Tuvan flute

noun phrase the direction of the end of the life (unfavorable geografical direction when calculating the element of the birth)

noun "birthmarks" - according to Buddhism every person has a certain set of birthmarks of different colors and numbers depending on the birth date according to the Luna calendar

verb phrase ritual of fixing the birthmark of a person

noun phrase bad soul (used by Southern Tuvans)

noun phrase silver breath (good physical shape)

verb phrase drive an arrow (shaman technique to look for lost thing)

noun phrase middle world / universe (that is Earth)

verb phrase ritual of burning a sacral fire

noun defenders of teaching (Buddist faith)

noun phrase good soul (used by Southern Tuvans)

noun phrase middle world / universe (literally yellow universe / world)

noun liver pieces wrapped in interior fat

noun burials of outstanding lamas

noun spirit, life force

noun potential

noun phrase people who are engaged in transportation and burial (literally those who bury bones)

verb ritual of smoking near a grave so the dead one could smoke with the relatives for the last time

noun sack of white color

noun hell

noun mantra

noun ritual of healing heavily sick people with aim to decieve ill spirits haunting sick people

noun / noun phrase breath of life / soul

noun phrase soul of a child (from newborn until 13 years of age)

noun phrase she-shaman (literally shaman-woman)

noun phrase shaman tree

noun phrase shaman’s fellow travellers (referring collectively to all mythical-spiritual beings with whom a shaman may interact)

Source: Simchit 2010,

noun phrase devil’s bird - messenger of death

noun phrase life energy

noun devil (used by Southern Tuvans)

noun phrase boiled (cooked) sheep leg

verb phrase to pay for shaman services (literally to whiten hands)

noun phrase white caragana (Siberian peashrub)

noun wake ritual (funeral repast)

noun prayer service on recovery of a sick person

noun small stones for fortune-telling (used by shamans)

noun pl young acolyte

noun ritual of cleansing face and hands after the funerals

noun summer tent (in modern Tuvan - barn)

noun summer camp

noun phrase special stone (used to see the spirits even by ordinary people)

noun chosen person who can manage the special stone

noun phrase hair lasso of handicraft production

noun phrase under world / hell (literally bottom of the world)

noun phrase cave (literally mouth of the earth)

noun phrase ending of life (literally earth instantly disappears)

noun phrase master of the land

noun luck in hunting

noun hell

noun buddhist lamp (icon lamp)

noun doll figure symbolizing sign of illness

noun wooden models of sables painted with soot

verb phrase ritual of fixing the birthdate of a person

noun buddhist fortune telling on bones

verb phrase suicide or death through the fault of doctors - euphemism (literally he/she couldn’t stand it any more)

noun stick

verb phrase euphemism - die suddenly (literally gone with smoke)

noun phrase upper universe / paradise

noun phrase wake (funeral repast) on the third day (literally three days)

noun phrase wooden spoon or trowel used to "feed" (coax) the spirits of dead people (literally three eyes)

noun destination and deeds

noun phrase dead soul