'Shaman' is Evenki for 'one who knows' — a Siberian word that went global through anthropology.
A person regarded as having access to the world of spirits, especially among some peoples of northern Asia and North America; a spiritual healer or mediator.
From Russian 'шаман' (shamán), from Evenki (a Tungusic language of Siberia) 'šamān' (one who knows, a priest, a healer). The Evenki word may ultimately derive from the Tungusic verb 'ša-' (to know), though some scholars have proposed a connection to Sanskrit 'śramaṇa' (an ascetic, a wandering monk), via Chinese 'shāmén' (沙門, Buddhist monk). The word entered Western European languages through accounts of Russian explorers in Siberia. Key roots: šamān (Evenki (Tungusic): "one who knows").
The word 'shaman' traveled from a small Siberian language (Evenki, spoken by reindeer herders) to become a global term through a chain of contacts: Evenki → Russian explorers → German scholars → all of Europe. The anthropologist Mircea Eliade's 1951 book 'Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy' turned a Siberian-specific term into a universal category applied to spiritual practices from the Amazon to Australia. Whether such diverse practices should all be called 'shamanism' remains debated