The English History of Taboo
Written December 3, 2004

Taboo (n)

The word “taboo” was first officially recorded by famed explorer Captain James Cook, who described it in his journal in the year 1777: “[Taboo] has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden…. When any thing is forbidden to be eat, or made use of, they say, that it is taboo” (American Heritage Dictionary). Cook acquired knowledge of the word from the Tongan dialect used on the then-titled Friendly Islands and directly transcribed their “tabu” – widely defined as “under prohibition” – as “taboo” for English purposes before taking the word back to England for dissemination. Other Polynesian islands in the area had phonological variations on taboo, such as “tapu” and “tambu”, but the word’s meaning was always an adjective used to describe social prohibition. In Anglicizing taboo, Cook broadened its semantic scope, making it a noun referring to the prohibition itself and a verb used to describe the process of making someone or something taboo. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the noun variation of taboo was later applied by colonialists to the customs of other cultures similar to those found by Cook in the Polynesian islands. In 1933, taboo was first recorded with usage applicable to language rather than a social mechanism – taboo became a descriptor for conversational language or expressions deemed offensive within a given social context. In this instance, the word was once again broadened, this time for the purpose of remaining applicable to contemporary social mores while still maintaining its negative connotations and core semantic value of prohibition. Taboo is currently defined, as a noun, by the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language as follows: A ban or an inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion. Popular use has coined transitive verb variations such as “tabooed”, “tabooing” and “taboos.”

Taboo has been phonologically stable since its first appearance in an English context. It also appears to have maintained a remarkable consistency in meaning since its inception into the English language. Even now, the word still describes a prohibition in context of social customs. Although taboo was broadened to encompass additional word classes as a noun and as a verb when initially recruited for the English lexicon, the semantic core remained untouched. However, additional broadening to include socially offensive language and subjects as examples of taboo by 20 th century English speakers did much to move the word away from its mystical-religious tribal significance and towards a generalized negative descriptor. While taboo, in its original cultural context, carried a great weight of cultural control in its enunciation, English use reduced the magnitude of its effect as a form of social power. Taboo became merely “offensive”. In a way, applying taboo to undesirable social topics served to trivialize its meaning. Taboo was effectively ameliorated in its cultural transition, as the English usage stripped the word of its absolutist tribal implications and mystical capacity. Additionally, recent years have further ameliorated the word, as it has become trendy for clothing companies and other “cutting-edge” retail businesses to mine taboo for its connotations of counter-culturalism for their products and corporate images, thus further integrating taboo as an acceptable aspect of society. In fact, taboo has been reversed by various subcultures, the most notable being the rave scene of the 90s, to carry positive meaning with an inflection of mysterious cool. For example: “Drugs are taboo” – the implication here is that drugs are prohibited by mainstream society and thus taboo describes desirability in contrast to the mainstream’s wishes. As rebellious sentiment rises in society, taboo increasingly becomes an iconic vehicle of resistance to the “norm” and, in turn, will continue to become further and further ameliorated as mainstream society seizes this semantic meaning and assimilates it. Regardless, taboo is still firmly rooted in its social prohibitive role by the English language at the moment, just as it was first discovered and taken from the Friendly Islands by Captain Cook centuries ago.

Works Cited

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Online: http://www.bartleby.com/61/49/T0004900.html