SOURCE 01supportshistorical dictionary
Taboo — Word History
Identifies the direct English source as Tongan.
Word History — Tongan tabu- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
PERMANENT DISPUTE RECORD
ALL DISPUTES ↗CLAIM / COUNTERCLAIM / LIMITRECORD 168
DISPUTE
RECORD.
One scholarly question. Every attached source. The present editorial state, without pretending the last word has been written.
resolvedestablished
Did English taboo come from Māori tapu?
No. Merriam-Webster identifies Tongan tabu as the English donor. Māori tapu is a related Oceanic reflex, not the borrowing source.
WORD UNDER REVIEWDISPUTE 168
tapu
/ˈta.pu/ · stative · modifier · noun
A Māori word for what is sacred, prohibited, restricted, set apart, or under atua protection, inherited within the wider Oceanic *tampu family.
01
DIRECT CLAIM EVIDENCE
2 SOURCES WITH A STANCE
A citation is not a vote. Each record says whether the work supports, challenges, contradicts, or contextualizes the position—and identifies the exact locus used.
SOURCE 02contextcomparative lexicon
TAPU [OC] — Prohibited, under ritual restriction, taboo
Shows that the forms are related reflexes rather than a Māori-to-English route.
New Zealand Maori and Tongan reflexes- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Simon J. Greenhill · Ross Clark · Bruce Biggs
- YEAR
- 2010
- PUBLISHER
- Polynesian Lexicon Project Online · Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
02 / EDITORIAL STATE
THE CURRENT RECORD IS RESOLVED.
- CONFIDENCE
- established
- STATUS
- resolved
- LEGACY SOURCE SUMMARY
- The English dictionary names Tongan; POLLEX independently lists Māori and Tongan reflexes.
The canonical graph joins the words only at reconstructed *tampu.