1181: Taboo Mar 4, 2018

Taboo is a concept used in many cultures, but the traditional sense is often misunderstood due to its interpretation in English, where it can simply refer to something forbidden. The term was introduced into English by Captain Cook after he encountered the Tonga people who practiced Taboo, as is fairly common of Pacific Islanders, and also certain indigenous Americans. The practice involves not using a word that carries certain spiritual significance, including names of those whom have died. Since these cultures used names based off of words that appear in normal contexts as well, this could mean that any word used as a name for a now-deceased person could not be used. This would sometimes even extend to words that relate to the original, either semantically or phonetically, depending upon the people-group. Of course, people need to use these signs, so this practice results in certain words changing rapidly from one word to another. Among other things, this speeds up the rate at which dialects diverge from each other, and makes communication between these different groups of people potentially offensive without meaning to be. This is somewhat similar to not using the name of the divine among those who practice Abrahamic religions.
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