tapu

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

I.


adj.

a Maori word, but common also toother Polynesian languages. The origin of the English word taboo. It properly means `prohibited.' There was asacred tapu, and an unclean tapu. What wasconsecrated to the gods was forbidden to be touched or usedby the people.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand'(Church Missionary Society), p. 208:

«Tapu, a. sacred, inviolable.»

1835. W. Yate, `Some Account of New Zealand,' p. 84:

«This system of consecration – – for that is the most frequentmeaning of the term `tapu' – – has prevailed through all theislands of the South Seas, but nowhere to a greater extent thanin New Zealand.»

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i.p. 194:

«They wrapped the mutilated corpse in his red blanket, andbore it, lashed to a tree, to the village, where the usualtangi took place after it had been deposited in the wahi tapu,or sacred ground.'»

1859. A. S. Thomson, M.D., `Story of New Zealand,' p. 100:

«The primary meaning of the Maori word tapu is `sacred'; tabut is a Malay word, and is rendered `the Ark of theCovenant of God'; taboot is a Hindoo word signifying`a bier,' `a coffin,' or `the Ark of the Covenant'; tais the Sanscrit word `to mark,' and pu `to purify.'»

[There is no authority in this polyglot mixture.]

1879. Clement Bunbury, `Fraser's Magazine,' June, `A Visit tothe New Zealand Geysers,' p. 767:

«I had not much time to examine them closely, having a properfear of the unknown penalties incurred by the violation ofanything `tapu' or sacred.»

1893. `Otago Witness,' Dec. 21, p. 10, col. 1:

«He seeks treasures which to us are tapu.»

II.

n.

the state of being consecrated orforbidden.

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i.p. 25:

«We found no natives, the cove being under tapu, on account ofits being the burial-place of a daughter of Te Pehi, the latechief of the Kapiti, or Entry Island, natives.»

1847. A. Tennyson, `Princess,' canto iii. l. 261:

«. . . Women up till this

Cramp'd under worse than South-Sea-Isle taboo,

Dwarfs of the gynaeceum.»

1851. Mrs. Wilson, `New Zealand,' p. 24:

«But chiefly thou, mysterious Tapu,

From thy strange rites a hopeful sign we draw.»

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 281:

«The tapu, which either temporarily or permanently renderssacred an object animate or inanimate, is the nearest approachto the Hindoo religious exclusive-ism.»

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 89:

«His sole `tapu' a far securer guard

Than lock and key of craftiest notch and ward.»

Ibid. p. 100:

«Avenge each minor breach of this taboo.»

III.

v.

originally to mark as sacred,and later to place under a ban. English, taboo.

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 284:

«The tapued resting-place of departed chieftains.»

1875. `Spectator' (Melbourne), May 29, p. 40, col. 2:

«I . . . found the telegraph office itself tabooed.»

1893. R. L. Stevenson, `Island Nights' Entertainments,' p. 39:

«By Monday night I got it clearly in my head I must betabooed.»