Editing Taboo (section)

==Etymology==
The English term ''taboo'' comes from ''[[Tapu (Polynesian culture)|tapu]]'' in [[Oceanic languages]], particularly [[Polynesian languages]], with such meanings as "prohibited" or "forbidden". That root ''tapu'' is reflected, among others, by [[Tongan language|Tongan]] or [[Māori language|Māori]] ''tapu'', and by [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] ''[[Kapu (Hawaiian culture)|kapu]]''. Its English use dates to 1777 when the British explorer [[James Cook]] visited [[Tonga]], and referred to the [[Tongans]]' use of the term ''taboo'' for "any thing that is forbidden to be eaten, or made use of".<ref>{{Harvnb|Cook|King|1821|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h6UFAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA462 462]}}</ref> Having invited some of the Tongan aristocracy to dinner aboard his ship, Cook wrote:
{{Blockquote|Not one of them would sit down, or eat a bit of any thing. . . . On expressing my surprise at this, they were all taboo, as they said; which word has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cook|King|1821|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h6UFAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA348 348]}}</ref>}}

The term was translated to him as "consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed".{{sfn|Cook|King|1821}} ''Tapu'' is usually treated as a unitary, non-[[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] word inherited from [[Proto-Polynesian language|Proto-Polynesian]] *''tapu''.<ref>"[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=taboo&searchmode=none taboo]". [[Online Etymology Dictionary]].</ref><ref>
{{cite web
  |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/taboo
  |title=Online dictionary
  |publisher=Lexico Publishing Group, LLC
  |access-date=2007-06-05
}}</ref><ref name=POLLEX>{{cite web|last=Biggs|first=Bruce|title=Entries for TAPU <nowiki>[OC]</nowiki> Prohibited, under ritual restriction, taboo|url=https://pollex.eva.mpg.de/entry/tapu/|work=Polynesian Lexicon Project Online|publisher=University of Auckland|access-date=9 September 2012}}</ref> It also exists in other [[Oceanic languages]] outside Polynesian, such as [[Fijian language|Fijian]] ''tabu'',<ref>{{Cite book
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7v2Beyc5YgC&q=tabu+meaning+Fijian&pg=PA368
 | title=A Grammar of Boumaa Fijian
 | first=Robert M. W.| last=Dixon
 | page=368
 | isbn=978-0-226-15429-9
 | year=1988
| publisher=University of Chicago Press
 }}</ref> or [[Hiw language|Hiw]] (Vanuatu) ''toq''.<ref name="POc" />

Those words descend from an etymon *''tabu'' in the ancestral [[Proto-Oceanic language]], whose meaning was [[Linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] as "forbidden, off limits; sacred, due to a sentiment of awe before spiritual forces".<ref name="POc">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1353/ol.2022.0017| issn = 1527-9421| volume = 61| issue = 1| pages = 212–255| last = François| first = Alexandre |authorlink=Alexandre François | title = Awesome forces and warning signs: Charting the semantic history of *tabu words in Vanuatu| journal = Oceanic Linguistics| accessdate = 2022-07-11| date = 2022| s2cid = 240387414| url = http://alex.francois.online.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2022_Awesome-Forces_Tabu_Vanuatu_OceanicLinguistics.pdf |ref=tabu}}</ref>

In its current use in Tongan, the word ''tapu'' means "sacred" or "holy", often in the sense of being restricted or protected by custom or law. On the main island, the word is often appended to the end of "Tonga" as ''Tongatapu'', here meaning "Sacred South" rather than "Forbidden South".