Noa
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Part of speech adjective
Quick meaning: Noa is an adjective meaning (linguistics) Non-taboo; serving to replace a taboo name or term.
Meaning
(linguistics) Non-taboo; serving to replace a taboo name or term.
More Meanings
- (New Zealand, among the Maori) Non-sacred; such that it must be kept separate from what is taboo.
Example Sentences
Blå Jungfrun […] is a noa name. The tabooed name of this island is Blåkulla, Blue Hill (or Rock), a recurring name of the home of the witches in the North.
It vividly recalls the use of the same epithet in the name The Seven Haley Isles, a seamen's noa term for the Flannan Islands (SGS, xi, 88). A further striking parallel is offered by Eng. halibut lit. 'holy butt' and its many Germanic cognates, terms which certainly arose in a milieu conditioned by intense superstition[…]
The power of the spoken word has meant that some dangerous things are not mentioned by their "real" names, but by noa terms, like gullfot (literally "golden foot") for "wolf", or tallbjörn (literally "pine bear"), granoxe (literally: "fir ox"), trädräv (literally: "tree fox") or granälg (literally: "fir elk") for "squirrel".
Antonyms for noa
Common opposites include tapu.
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include naa, ana, notice, holder, year.
Related Dictionary Tools
Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
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