μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Name tabu: prohibition against uttering the name of a person or thing.

Tabu. · Speaking tabu. · Name tabu. · view the constellation · filed as C430

Filed across the traditions
  • Welsh ibid. 100
  • Swiss Jegerlehner Oberwallis 310 No. 29
  • French Canadian Barbeau JAFL XXIX 17. – Jamaica Negro: Beckwith MAFLS XVII *263 No. 66, *277 No. 89. – Africa (Bushman): Bleek and Lloyd 101, (Vai): Ellis 257 No. 52, (A'Kikuyu): Barrett 42.
  • general *Types 400, 500
  • general *BP I 495
  • general *Clodd Tom-Tit-Tot, The Magic of Names
  • general Hdwb. d. Abergl. IX Nachträge 809
  • general *Nyrop Navnets Magt
  • general *Chauvin VI 106 No. 270
  • general *Fb "navn" II 675b, 676a
  • general Frazer Golden Bough XII 383 s. v. "names". – Irish: Cross, MacCulloch Celtic 70
  • general English-Scottish: Child V 489 s. v. "naming"
Within the index
6 finer motifs beneath it
Tabu: uttering name of god (or gods) Tabu: uttering name of supernatural creature Tabu: uttering name of malevolent creature (Eumenides). To avoid the evil results of naming these creatures other names are substituted. The Furies are spoken of as Eumenides; rats and mice as "the large" and "the small" Tabu: uttering relative's name Tabu: disclosing own identity. A supernatural person must not tell who he is Tabu: giving child a name lest it die early
Travels with (Thompson’s cf.)
Transformation by breaking name tabu. (Cf. C430.)

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