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Origin and history of taboo

taboo(adj.)

also tabu, 1777 (in Cook's "A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean"), "consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed; prohibited to a certain class," explained in some English sources as being from Tongan (Polynesian language of the island of Tonga) ta-bu "sacred," from ta "mark" + bu "especially." But this may be folk etymology, as linguists in the Pacific have reconstructed an irreducable Proto-Polynesian *tapu, from Proto-Oceanic *tabu "sacred, forbidden" (compare Hawaiian kapu "taboo, prohibition, sacred, holy, consecrated;" Tahitian tapu "restriction, sacred, devoted; an oath;" Maori tapu "be under ritual restriction, prohibited").

The noun ("prohibitory restraining injunction") and verb ("to put under taboo") are English innovations first recorded in Cook's account [OED, 2nd ed., 1989].

also from 1777

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out
expressing motion or direction from within or from a central point, also removal from proper place or position, Old English ut "out, without, outside," from Proto-Germanic *ūt- (Old Norse, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Gothic ut, Middle Dutch uut, Dutch uit, Old High German uz, German
minnesinger
German minne by c. 1500 no longer was considered decent, and it became a taboo word until revived 18c. in poetic language...
Jap
It was protested by Japanese before the war, but did not begin to be taboo in the U.S. before 1960s....
adjective
In Britain from at least 1851 the word often was a euphemism for the taboo adjective bloody....
marten
Or it might be a substrate word or a Germanic euphemism for the real name of the animal, which might have been taboo....
nineties
amount of rosy retrospect will ever be able to recall as gay, especially to a normal healthy boy to whom all activities were taboo...
bear
bear" (*rtko; see arctic), but it is believed to have been ritually replaced in the northern branches because of hunters' taboo...
inhibition
late 14c., "formal prohibition; interdiction of legal proceedings by authority;" also, the document setting forth such a prohibition, from Old French inibicion and directly from Latin inhibitionem (nominative inhibitio) "a restraining," from past participle stem of inhibere "to h
prejudice
c. 1300, "despite, contempt," from Old French prejudice "a prejudice, prejudgment; damage" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin prejudicium "injustice," from Latin praeiudicium "prior judgment, judicial examination before trial; damage, harm," from prae- "before" (see pre-) +
out-
in Old English a common prefix with nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs, "out, outward, outer; forth, away," from out (adv.). The use was even more common in Middle English, and also with the senses "outer, outside, on the outside, from without, external, externally; apart

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