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.»
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.»
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.»