hello. i am a yoga instructor in toronto, Canada. for those of you familiar with yoga, you may be aware that the sanskrit word 'namaste' is used at the end of each teaching. the word basically translates to: 'the devine in me recognizes the devine in you'. it is a term of honour, gratefulness and thanks. although yoga originated in India (home of sanskrit), i struggle with finding a connection to the word. i feel much more comfortable using a word/phrase which corresponds with the heritage of the territory in which i reside. for this reason, i'm looking for an equivalent in Ojibwe for 'namaste'. any help would be appreciated.
thank you,
Don
translate english into ojibwe
Moderators: kokoyaya, Beaumont
i think you wanna translate not English into Ojibwe, but Sanskrit. namaste literally means 'i bow to you' or something like that, and this is usual politeness and greeting formula in India. But no one would say in Ojibwe 'i bow to you' meaning respect, this is not Ojibwe tradition to bow to anyone.
Ojibwe does not contain formulas or ideas of eastern philosophy too. no one would ever say in Ojibwe 'the divine in me..." etc, but only Christians maybe. Ojibwe words reflect Ojibwe worldview and it differs from both European and South-Asian.
This language have problems with western politeness too. I know only one Ojibwe politeness word, which is 'thank you' - mii gwech, and it literally means 'that's enough'.
Ojibwe does not contain formulas or ideas of eastern philosophy too. no one would ever say in Ojibwe 'the divine in me..." etc, but only Christians maybe. Ojibwe words reflect Ojibwe worldview and it differs from both European and South-Asian.
This language have problems with western politeness too. I know only one Ojibwe politeness word, which is 'thank you' - mii gwech, and it literally means 'that's enough'.