totem means any natural object or living creature that serves as an emblem of a tribe, clan or family; the representation of such an object or creature.
totem is pronounced /ˈtoʊtəm/.
Why “totem” is a great word
A natural object, animal, or being that serves as a sacred emblem of a family, clan, or group, embodying spiritual kinship. From Ojibwe (o)doodem(an), meaning "his sibling kin, his clan, his family mark," first attested in English circa 1760. Unlike an emblem—a general, secular symbol for a nation or idea—or a mascot—a secular token of luck for a team—a totem is a vessel of ancestral identity. It is the weathered bear carving passed down through generations, the wolf whose call answers a clansman’s own, and the raven perched in the family's origin story; identity not chosen, but inherited, a claim that human and non-human share a single breath.
Etymology
Borrowed from Ojibwe (o)doodem(an).
noun
- Any natural object or living creature that serves as an emblem of a tribe, clan or family; the representation of such an object or creature.
- The clan whose kinship is defined in reference to such an object or creature.e.g.“The totem members were forbidden to eat the flesh of the totem animal, or were allowed to do so only under specific conditions.” — 1921, Wilhelm Max Wundt, Edward Leroy Schaub, Elements of folk psychology: outlines of a psychological history:
- A symbol or personification.
- An arbitrarily chosen object serving as a reminder to check whether one is awake or not, to aid in having lucid dreams.
- A tall object resembling a totem pole.e.g.“Out the front of the Drive-in rose the town’s main tourist attraction, a totem of signs to bizarre places with impossible distances such as Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and so on.” — 2014 February 4, Tom Hayllar, A Long Way Walkin’ in Australia: From the Tasman to the Timor Sea, Bloomington, Indiana: Balboa Press, →ISBN, page 207:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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