Noa-name

A noa-name is a word that replaces a taboo word, generally out of fear that the true name would summon the thing. The term derives from the Polynesian concept of '' noa'', which is the antonym of ''tapu'' (from which derives the word ''taboo'') and serves to lift the ''tapu'' from a person or object.

A noa-name is sometimes described as a euphemism, ''Noaord''
at glosbe.com (Swedish) though the meaning is more specific; a noa-name is a non-taboo synonym used to avoid bad luck, and replaces a name considered dangerous. The noa-name may be innocuous or flattering, or it may be more accusatory.Gillis Herlitz & Per Peterson (2011) ''Vargen : hatobjekt och kramdjur''. Liber AB. .

Examples

Examples of noa-names are:
*In Swedish, the word ('wolf') was replaced by ('stranger'), while the word for bear, (, along with its Proto-Germanic ancestor ''*berô'' and cognates such as 'bear', German and Dutch ) is a noa-name meaning 'brown'. The spirits of the hearth, , (corresponding to the Scottish brownie, or the Cornish pixie) were known as , ('dear little relatives') .
*In English, the Devil has been referred to by a variety of names (e.g. ' Old Nick', ' Mr. Scratch') to avoid attracting his attention through his name.
*In Irish folklore, Fairies are referred to as 'the little people', or 'the good people'.
*In Greek legend, the Erinyes (the Furies, the spirits of revenge) were commonly known as the ''Eumenides'' ('the benevolent ones').
*In Jewish culture, it is forbidden to speak the name of God (represented as YHWH) and the noa-name ''adonai'', 'my lord', or ''HaShem'', 'the Name', is used instead.
*In Finnish, there are several noa-names for (bear), used instead of calling the animal by its name and inadvertently attracting its attention. The word itself is a noa-name, to avoid using the original (and now relatively uncommon) words or . (See Finnish mythology.)
*To avoid the negative connotations of the left side and left-handedness, most Romance languages created noa-names to avoid Latin : see French , Spanish , Romanian . Also Greek created (), a derivation from (, "best") to avoid ().
*The legacy French word for "fox" was from Latin . As a euphemism, it was replaced by , after Reynard the Fox, a famous trickster in medieval stories.

See also

* Mokita, a Trobriand term that translates as 'the truth we all know but agree not to talk about'
*Avoidance speech, a sociolinguistic phenomenon found in some aboriginal languages
*The evil wizard Lord Voldemort, typically referred to in the Harry Potter series as "He Who Must Not Be Named" or "You-Know-Who"
*The name of the William Shakespeare play ''Macbeth'' is, by longstanding theatrical custom, not to be mentioned in order to avoid bad luck; reference is instead made, for instance, to "the Scottish play"
*Apotropaic names are negative words applied to ward off evil.

References

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English-language idioms
Etiquette
Euphemisms
Taboo