TÀBU (Tàpu). - A Polynesian word resulting from two elements: *ta* “to mark, to note,” *bu* a strengthening particle, each retaining its own accent, whence it is pronounced *tabu*, with the meaning of something whose use and contact are forbidden; the word *t.* has entered religious ethnology to express sacred interdiction with a meaning analogous to that of the Latin *sacer* and the Greek ἀγιος (ἀγνός).
The violation of this interdiction entails sanctions not so much of a juridical character as arising from the supernatural power that emanates from the person or thing that is *t.* and appears as the manifestation of an invisible but present harmful force.
The *t.* is “ambivalent,” that is, it has a double aspect, positive and negative, favorable and unfavorable according to the sacred condition of the persons who come into contact with II. For those who are in the desired disposition, contact not only does no harm but increases their sacredness; for those who are not in the required condition, contact is harmful. Once an individual has come into contact with a person or thing that is *t.*, whether legitimately or illegitimately, he remains “tabooed,” that is, invested himself with an influence that may bring harmful effects to others unless, before returning to normal life, it is annulled by means of purification (v.).
VARIOUS KINDS OF T. - Persons. - In Oceania, where *t.* has found its widest application, the person of the king (and of the priests) was so sacred that anything he touched became forbidden, so that he had to be fed by others and no one could approach him, pronounce his name, or violate his property. The *t.* of sacred persons exists in all non-Christian religions; suffice it to recall in Rome the *t.* to which the Flamen Dialis was subject.
Things. - Objects, places, and names connected with sacredness are also *t.* As a general principle it may be affirmed that, religiously, objects or usages more recent in time are *t.* or forbidden compared to those more ancient. Thus in Roman religion and in popular superstition is explained the *t.* that falls upon iron, a metal of more recent use and of more mysterious working compared to copper, for religious uses; the *t.* that weighs upon the place and objects of youthful initiation and of secret societies among savages with regard to women and children; the *t.* that weighs upon certain foods (in many cases a residue of totemic beliefs): fish at Hierapolis in Syria, the kangaroo among various Australian tribes, meats in general among the Orphics, beans among the Pythagoreans, etc.