Name
The word belonging to an individual and denoting his personality. A name is one?s most intimate possession and should be guarded carefully. The repetitive use of one?s personal name, by others than those connected by family ties, steadily drains one?s persona and has a debilitating effect. The modern widespread custom of using Christian or given names after the briefest acquaintance, by contrast with the more formal usage of previous generations who addressed each other by surnames outside the family circle, probably accounts for many ills of modern society.
People outside the ?western? communities have a much greater respect for names. They know that he who possesses one?s name may also possess one?s spirit, and they never reveal their names to casual enquirers. This accounts for the fact that many Australian Aborigines assume European names, or endure the absurd nicknames such as Quart Pot or Nose Peg given to them by white men. The Aborigines reserve their true names for use by favored persons within the tribal group.
In some societies, children are never addressed by their correct name. This is a wise precaution, because a demon hearing a child?s name will take possession of its spirit. But if the demon used a child?s ?pretend? name as the basis of the necessary spell, then it would be ineffectual.
When traveling with a friend in demon-haunted places, such as a deep forest, down a mine, or by certain types of running water, one should never address him by name. Otherwise the local demon is certain to steal it and use it against him.
The Babylonians did not give their children official names until they became pubescent. Then, during the naming ceremony, the youth or maiden was placed under the protection of an individual god who acted as guardian of the name. If, in later life, the name-owner fell sick, it was then known that he or she had committed a sin, thus prompting the name-god to depart and leave a vacancy which was filled by a demon. It would then be necessary for the priests to discover the name of the demon, so that, by naming it, they could cast it out again.
Some people, including the Nicobar Islanders, the Klamath and Chinook Indians of North American, and certain New Guinea tribes, never mention the name of a dead person. If he heard his name he would think he was being called back from the dead, and reappear to discomfort the living.
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Ingpen, Robert and Michael Page. ?Name.? Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were: Creatures, Place and People. New York: Penguin Studio, 1985.
The word belonging to an individual and denoting his personality. A name is one?s most intimate possession and should be guarded carefully. The repetitive use of one?s personal name, by others than those connected by family ties, steadily drains one?s persona and has a debilitating effect. The modern widespread custom of using Christian or given names after the briefest acquaintance, by contrast with the more formal usage of previous generations who addressed each other by surnames outside the family circle, probably accounts for many ills of modern society.
People outside the ?western? communities have a much greater respect for names. They know that he who possesses one?s name may also possess one?s spirit, and they never reveal their names to casual enquirers. This accounts for the fact that many Australian Aborigines assume European names, or endure the absurd nicknames such as Quart Pot or Nose Peg given to them by white men. The Aborigines reserve their true names for use by favored persons within the tribal group.
In some societies, children are never addressed by their correct name. This is a wise precaution, because a demon hearing a child?s name will take possession of its spirit. But if the demon used a child?s ?pretend? name as the basis of the necessary spell, then it would be ineffectual.
When traveling with a friend in demon-haunted places, such as a deep forest, down a mine, or by certain types of running water, one should never address him by name. Otherwise the local demon is certain to steal it and use it against him.
The Babylonians did not give their children official names until they became pubescent. Then, during the naming ceremony, the youth or maiden was placed under the protection of an individual god who acted as guardian of the name. If, in later life, the name-owner fell sick, it was then known that he or she had committed a sin, thus prompting the name-god to depart and leave a vacancy which was filled by a demon. It would then be necessary for the priests to discover the name of the demon, so that, by naming it, they could cast it out again.
Some people, including the Nicobar Islanders, the Klamath and Chinook Indians of North American, and certain New Guinea tribes, never mention the name of a dead person. If he heard his name he would think he was being called back from the dead, and reappear to discomfort the living.
--
Ingpen, Robert and Michael Page. ?Name.? Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were: Creatures, Place and People. New York: Penguin Studio, 1985.