BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYpollex-tapu

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comparative lexiconpollex-tapu

TAPU [OC] — Prohibited, under ritual restriction, taboo

AUTHOR / EDITOR: Simon J. Greenhill · Ross Clark · Bruce Biggs
YEAR: 2010
PUBLISHER: Polynesian Lexicon Project Online · Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
DOI: Not recorded
SOURCE TYPE: comparative lexicon
EXTERNAL RECORD: OPEN ORIGINAL ↗

7CANONICAL EDGES

0WITNESSES

3COMPARISONS

0CONTEXT LINKS

2RANKED REVEALS

5DISPUTES

6JOURNEY STAGES

3WORD DOSSIERS

CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS

RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

RANK 146GRADE Asupports

The k in kapu is a fossilized sound change.

Hawaiian kapu and Māori tapu are not misspellings of one another: Hawaiian regularly changed inherited *t toward k while preserving the sacred and prohibited semantic field.

*tampu

*tampu → kapu

Hawaiian kapu and New Zealand Maori tapu reflexes

Places both words in one comparative family.

kapu dossier ↗truth record ↗85UNVEILING

RANK 159GRADE Asupports

It did not begin as merely “forbidden.”

Tongan and reconstructed Oceanic evidence joins prohibition and ritual restriction with sacredness and consecration.

*tampu

*tampu → tabu / tapu → taboo

OC.TAPU description and Tongan reflexes

Documents the sacred, prohibited, and ritual-restriction semantic field.

taboo dossier ↗truth record ↗85UNVEILING

SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT

DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

resolvedsupportsestablished

Is kapu merely a misspelling of tapu?

No. Hawaiian kapu reflects a documented historical *t to k development; POLLEX lists it as the Hawaiian reflex of the same Oceanic family.

Hawaiian kapu reflex under OC.TAPU

Applies the comparison to this lexical item.

kapu dossier ↗dispute record ↗

resolvedcontextestablished

Did Hawaiian kapu directly give English taboo?

No. English taboo is traced to Tongan tabu. Hawaiian kapu is a cognate reflex whose resemblance reveals family history, not the borrowing event.

Hawaiian and Tongan reflexes

Distinguishes cognate reflexes from the borrowing channel.

kapu dossier ↗dispute record ↗

resolvedsupportsestablished

Did taboo originally mean only “forbidden”?

No. The Tongan reflexes and wider Oceanic reconstruction carry a semantic field that includes prohibited, under ritual restriction, sacred, holy, and consecrated.

OC.TAPU description and Tongan reflexes

Documents prohibited, ritual, sacred, and consecrated senses.

taboo dossier ↗dispute record ↗

resolvedcontextestablished

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.

New Zealand Maori and Tongan reflexes

Shows that the forms are related reflexes rather than a Māori-to-English route.

tapu dossier ↗dispute record ↗

resolvedcontextestablished

Does tapu mean only “forbidden”?

No. Te Aka defines a culturally specific field spanning sacredness, restriction, being set apart, prohibition, atua protection, and social or environmental responsibility.

New Zealand Maori reflex and OC.TAPU description

Supplies the wider inherited semantic comparison.

tapu dossier ↗dispute record ↗

CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS

EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

EDGE 312supportsestablished

taboo → tabu / tapu

Present-Day English → Tongan · borrowing

SOUND: Tongan tabu was adapted to the English spelling taboo and English phonology.
MEANING: A Polynesian field joining sacredness and prohibition became an English noun, adjective, and verb for prohibited things and acts.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR: Merriam-Webster Editors · POLLEX editors

Tongan reflexes under OC.TAPU

Documents Tongan taboo or tapu with forbidden, sacred, and consecrated senses.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗

EDGE 313supportsprobable

tabu / tapu → *tampu

Tongan → Proto-Oceanic · inheritance

SOUND: POLLEX compares Tongan tapu with Proto-Oceanic *tampu; intermediate Polynesian developments are not over-specified here.
MEANING: The sacred, prohibited, and ritual-restriction field remains continuous across the comparison.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR: POLLEX editors

Reconstruction and notes — POC *tampu; Tongan tapu

Supplies the comparative Oceanic reconstruction and Tongan reflex.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗

EDGE 314contextboundary

*tampu → UNKNOWN

Proto-Oceanic → Beyond secure reconstruction · knowledge boundary

SOUND: No deeper form is promoted beyond the Proto-Oceanic reconstruction in the reviewed comparative entry.
MEANING: The dossier reaches the current reviewed reconstruction and stops.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR: SET-U editorial boundary · POLLEX editors

OC.TAPU reconstruction horizon

Defines the reviewed reconstruction at which this dossier stops.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗

EDGE 516supportsprobable

tapu → *tampu

Māori → Proto-Oceanic · inheritance

SOUND: Māori tapu preserves the t and vowels of the wider Oceanic comparison; intermediate subgroup stages are not invented.
MEANING: Sacredness, prohibition, restriction, and being set apart remain central.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR: POLLEX editors · John C. Moorfield

New Zealand Maori reflex under OC.TAPU; POC *tampu note

Directly compares Māori tapu with the Oceanic reconstruction.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗

EDGE 517supportsboundary

*tampu → UNKNOWN

Proto-Oceanic → Beyond secure reconstruction · knowledge boundary

SOUND: No deeper form is promoted beyond Proto-Oceanic *tampu.
MEANING: The Māori dossier reaches the current reviewed comparative horizon.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR: SET-U editorial boundary · POLLEX editors

POC *tampu reconstruction endpoint

Supplies the deepest promoted comparative form.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗

EDGE 518supportsprobable

kapu → *tampu

Hawaiian → Proto-Oceanic · inheritance

SOUND: Hawaiian kapu reflects the characteristic Hawaiian development of earlier *t to k after the older k-space changed; the rest of the form remains visibly close.
MEANING: Sacred, prohibited, consecrated, and set-apart senses continue across the family.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR: Robert A. Blust · POLLEX editors

Hawaiian kapu reflex under OC.TAPU; POC *tampu note

Directly compares Hawaiian kapu with the Oceanic reconstruction.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗

EDGE 519supportsboundary

*tampu → UNKNOWN

Proto-Oceanic → Beyond secure reconstruction · knowledge boundary

SOUND: No deeper form is promoted beyond Proto-Oceanic *tampu.
MEANING: The Hawaiian dossier reaches the current reviewed comparative horizon.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR: SET-U editorial boundary · POLLEX editors

POC *tampu reconstruction endpoint

Supplies the deepest promoted comparative form.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗

LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS