Bough. Pt. II. 

 p. 318. 



116 EXOGAMY IN CHINA 



The sound which described, which moved, which- 

 got the object is repeated with the same success, that 

 object has now an end, and the name, in some way, 

 is part of it. Thereafter, the naming of a child, a new 

 thing come fresh into the world, and as unnamed still 

 incomplete, would be a serious matter. 

 Fraxer. Golden Sir James Frazer, in Chapter VI of Part II of 



"The Golden Bough," "Taboo and the Perils of the- 

 Soul, " says : — "In fact primitive man regards his name 

 as a vital portion of himself and takes care of it 

 accordingly." 



We shall see that the Chinese of classical times 

 retained, and acted on, the same primitive beliefs as 

 to the name being a portion of the thing named, and 

 as to the interrelation if not identity of things and 

 persons bearing the same name, as are instanced by 

 the Author of the Golden Bough in regard to other 

 primitive races. 



The Book of Eites says: — 

 LiKi, Leooa "In giving a name to< a son, it should not be that 



S B E Pt I 



Vol. 27*. of a State, nor of a day or a month, nor of any hidden 



pp. 78 8 475. ailment , nor of a hill or river. 



The first names used by man were probably the 

 onomatopoeic descriptive names of animals. 



A greater mental effort would be made in naming 

 the silent objects which he used or noticed. 



Names at first would be few, and of those few 

 some would probably have to do duty for more objects 

 than one. 



The indentity of name would carry with it the idea 

 of a common nature or essence, and care would be- 

 taken in linking one object with another by the giving 

 of the same name, lest the death or injury to the one 

 should hurt the other. 



The repeated prohibition in the Li Ki as to the 

 names to be avoided in the naming of a son is a proof 

 of the small number of names in use when children 

 were first given a personal name of their own. 



It was presumably not so much out of consideration 

 for the child as through fear of reflected harm to the 

 objects, or rather the guardian spirits dwelling in the 

 objects, such as the hills or rivers whose names might 

 not be taken, that the prohibition arose. Injury to, 

 or the death of, a child called by the same name as a 

 mountain or a river might injure or at least disturb 

 the spirits of the hills and streams. 



