English
taboo
Taboo comes from Tongan tapu ‘prohibited, sacred’, and goes back to Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *tambu.
- Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesianprehistoric (reconstructed)*tambureconstructed
- Proto-Oceanicprehistoric (reconstructed)*tabureconstructed
- Proto-Polynesianprehistoric (reconstructed)*tapureconstructed
- Tonganmoderntapu‘prohibited, sacred’
- Englishearliest quotation 1914taboo
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesianprehistoric (reconstructed)*tambureconstructed
- Proto-Oceanicprehistoric (reconstructed)*tabureconstructed
- Proto-Polynesianprehistoric (reconstructed)*tapureconstructed
- Tonganmoderntapu‘prohibited, sacred’
- Englishearliest quotation 1914taboo
Earliest quotation: 1914, Ernest Bramah: “They lunched, but if the subject of Carrados had…”
first attested First attested in c. 1777 (as stated in the etymology)
The story
First attested in c. 1777. The p in the Tongan source was misheard as b.
Every English word from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *tambu
Today it means
noun An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.