788 



TOTEM 



[b. a. e. 



the Bear,' and not at all, as is commonly 

 said, 'the Bear is my mark.' When an 

 Indian says to unother pindi ken nindotem, 

 can one believe that he says to him, 

 'enter then, my mark?' Is it not more 

 reasonable to believe that he says to 

 him, 'enter then, my clansman,' as we 

 say, 'enter then, my countryman?' But 

 since the traders, and the Indians in imi- 

 tation of them, attach to the word otem, the 

 idea of mark, I know that I must not 

 offend too much against this prejudice" 

 (cited by Cuoq, Lex. de la Lang. Algonq., 

 313, 1886). Here Thavenet gives the 

 correct native Algonkin usage of the 

 term, and also the traditional native ex- 

 planation of the origin of the clan patron 

 spirits. As a translation of 'family- 

 mark,' Bishop Baraga (Otchipwe Diet, 

 and Gram., 1878-82) wrote odem; but, 

 being evidently aware that this render- 

 ing does not express the true sense of the 

 term, he added parenthetically, "odem 

 or ote7)i, means only his parents, rela- 

 tions. In Cree, ototema, his relations" — 

 thus clearly indicating that 'family-mark' 

 is a definition of ote-vt, which is not an 

 element of the native concept of the stem. 

 Under ototema, in his li.stof terms of kin- 

 ship, Lacombe (Diet, de la Langue des 

 Oris, 1874) wrote "kinsman, relation," 

 without any reference to ' family-mark.' 

 Constructively confirmative of the defini- 

 tion of the stem ote, given above, is the 

 evidence found in the analysis of the 

 common Algonquian term otend or otenaiv, 

 signifying 'village, town, or settlement.' 

 Its component lexical elements are ote, 

 'brother-sister kin,' 'clan,' and the 

 nominal adformative -iid, signifying *a 

 dwelling-place'; whence it is seen that 

 otend or otemiw originally meant ' the 

 dwelling-place of the clan.' or 'dwelling- 

 place of the brother-sister kin.' 



In specifying the name of a particular 

 clan or gens it is necessary commonly 

 to employ the name, usually a cognomen 

 only, of theobjectoranimalby which that 

 clan or gens is distinguished from all others 

 and by which it is protected, where such 

 a cult is in vogue. There are other meth- 

 ods of distinguishing related or confed- 

 erated groups one from another. The 

 purely philosophical term "totemism" 

 is of course a Caucasian derivative of the 

 word totem, and has a wide and varied 

 application. The term totem has been 

 rather indiscriminately applied to any 

 one of several classes of imaginary beings 

 which are believed by a large number of 

 the Indian tribes and peoples of North 

 America to be the tutelary, the guardian, 

 or the patron spirit or being of a person, 

 or of an organization of persons, where 

 such a cult or practice prevails. 



The native American Indian, holding 

 peculiar self-centered views as to the 

 unity and continuity of all life and the 



consequent inevitable interrelations of 

 the several bodies and beings in nature, 

 especially of man to the beings and bodies 

 of his experience and environment, to 

 whom were imputed by him various an- 

 thropomorphic attributes and functions 

 in addition to those naturally inherent in 

 them, has developed certain fundamen- 

 tally importantcults, based onthoseviews, 

 that deeply affect his social, religious, and 

 civil institutions. One of these doctrines 

 is that persons and organizations of per- 

 sons are one and all under the protecting 

 and fostering tutelage of some imaginary 

 being or spirit. These tutelary or patron 

 beings may be grouped, by the mode and 

 the motive of their acquirement and their 

 functions, into two fairly well defined 

 groups or classes : (1 ) those which protect 

 individuals only, and (2) those which pro- 

 tect organizations of persons. But with 

 these two classes of tutelary beings is not 

 infrequently confounded another class of 

 protective imaginary beings, commonly 

 called fetishes (see Fetish), which are 

 regarded as powerful spiritual allies of 

 their possessors. Each of these several 

 classes of guardian beings has its own 

 peculiar traditions, beliefs, and appro- 

 priate cult. The modes of the acquire- 

 ment and the motives for the acquisition 

 of these several classes of guardian beings 

 differ in some fundamental and essential 

 respects. The exact method of accjuiring 

 the clan or gentile group patrons or tute- 

 laries is still an unsolved problem, al- 

 though several plausible theories have 

 been advanced by astute students to 

 explain the probable mode of obtaining 

 them. With respect to the personal tute- 

 lary and the fetish, the data are sufficiently 

 clear and full to permit a satisfactory 

 description and definition of these two 

 classes of tutelary and auxiliary beings. 

 From the available data bearing on this 

 subject, it would seem that much con- 

 fusion regarding the use and acquirement 

 of personal and communal tutelaries or 

 patron beings has arisen by regarding 

 certain social, political, and religious 

 activities as due primarily to the influence 

 of these guardian deities, when in fact 

 those features were factors in the social 

 organization on which has been later im- 

 posed the cult of the patron or guardian 

 spirit. Exogamy, namesand classnames, 

 and various taboos exist w here ' ' totems ' ' 

 and '"totemism," the cults of the guar- 

 dian spirits, do not exist. 



Some profess to regard the clan or gen- 

 tile group patron or tutelary as a mere 

 development of the personal guardian, 

 but from the available but insufficient 

 data bearing on the question, it appears 

 to be, in some of its aspects, more closely 

 connected in origin, or rather in the 

 method of its acquisition, with the fetish, 

 the Iroquois otchin&'Mn'^da', 'an effective 



