Taboo Words in History: When Words Become Killing Orders and Slate Wars

Taboo Words in History: When Words Become Killing Orders and Slate Wars

1. "Prohibited words erase names from history" (Damnatio Memoriae - Ancient Roman):

In the Roman Empire, if any emperor or dignitary committed a serious offence or betrayed the land, the Council of Zenet would declare its punishment by a measure of radical identity erasure; the engraving of one's name would be flashed from the stone slab; the statue would be smashed, destroyed; and the public mention of that person's name was a capital offence punishable by death, ensuring that one's name and identity would be forever erased from history and family.

Key search: Damnatio memoriae Ancient Rome erased name

2. "Language Test Words Used to Divide and Kill" (Shibboleth - Territorial War):

The word "shibboleth" in the Bible does not have a special meaning, but is used as a "taboo and test word" by the tribe of Gilead to distinguish the enemies of Ephraim. Because the Ephraimites did not have a sound of "Sh" in their language, they pronounced only "ten boleth." Whoever mispronounced the word in a fraction of the voice would be immediately captured as an enemy and executed at the crossing of the Jordan River, which killed more than 42,000 people.

Search keywords: Shibboleth biblical pronunciation test conflict

3. "Prohibited words of the use of the native language of the Ainu people" (Ainu Language Ban - Japan):

During the Meiji era of Japan, the government pursued a decisive ethnic swallowing policy against the northern "Ainu people" indigenous islands, enacting a ban on the Ainu people from speaking their own local language, including a ban on belief-based rituals and a ban on traditional names. If anyone secretly speaks the Ainu language, it will be legally punished and socially excluded, resulting in the Ainu language gradually sliding away, so that it is now one of the most endangered languages in the world.

Search Key: Ainu language ban Meiji period Japan Assimilation

4. "Forbidden Greetings of World War" (Anti-Nazi Greetings - Germany):

During the Nazi glow, all citizens were forced to use the everyday greeting "Heil Hitler," refusing to say the word, or breaking into an old greeting like "Gutentac" (hello) or "Grus Scott" in a counterproductive context, could be interpreted as a threat to security; mentioning a taboo word or mocking a government slogan would be arrested by a Gestapo secret police agent for concentration camp or executed for treason.

Search Key: Heil Hitler greeting enforcement Gestapo penalty

5. "Prohibited words forbidding the pronunciation of the name of God" (Tetragrammaton - ancient Judea):

In ancient Judaism, the Divine Name of God, written in four letters (YHWH), was considered the ultimate taboo that did not consent to ordinary humans to pronounce it directly. In daily life, only a single high priest was allowed to pronounce the word once a year within the most sacred chamber of a temple. If the general public fell out of their mouth to speak or pronounce it improperly, it was considered an offence of dishonoring God and was punishable to death by stone according to ancient law.

Keyword search: Tetragrammaton forbidden pronunciation Ancient Judaism

"The power of words is always great. In some times, just saying one word can immediately determine whether a person will live or meet the end at that second."

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