SWEARING

The word taboo is a borrowing from Tongan, first introduced into English by Captain James Cook (1728—79) in the second volume of his A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean (2nd edn, 1785; see further Gray 1983). Not only is the word modern (outside Polynesia), but so is the concept of a category of words whose most salient feature is that, whether on grounds of profanity or obscenity or political offensiveness, they are ‘forbidden’ in the minds of speakers, those who use them as well as those who don't. The concept's modernity is signalled by the exoticness of the word taboo, implying as it does that perspectives gained from encounters with ‘primitive’ peoples can deepen our understanding of our own civilised cultures, a hallmark of modernist thinking. But it is ironic that Polynesian languages, with few exceptions, do not have swearing, as neither do any of the American Indian languages.

Modern too is the idea that those who use taboo words do so principally because they are taboo. This view developed and spread quickly through the nineteenth century, becoming ubiquitous in twentieth-century treatments of language. Indeed it has become such a commonsense notion that it's difficult to place ourselves outside it and see it as a historical product. For us, where swearing is concerned, taboos are made to be broken. The semantic significance of the words seems to be a secondary consideration.