Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON
These totem poles can be seen in Dandenong, in south-east Melbourne. They are a compelling sight in what is a busy commercial precinct dominated by office blocks and restaurants. I couldn't help noticing that the Sixties peace sign is a central image, at eye level, on one of them. A Canadian travel guide, Tom Ryan, told me during a 1999 trip to Vancouver that the word ``totem'' actually came from the dialect brought by Spanish adventurers. That put to rest my misconception that the word was part of the First Nation languages. If you've got some more information on the subject, feel free to post a comment.
2 comments:
I checked with my 'walking thesaurus on languages' and she looked blank at the reference to Spanish origin. So I looked it up on 'Dictionary.com' and came up with this . . .
[Origin: 1750–60, American; < Ojibwa ninto‧te‧m my totem, oto‧te‧man his totem (prob. orig. my clan-village-mate, deriv. of s. o‧te‧- dwell in or as a village; cf. o‧te‧na village)]
Don't you just hate it when an accepted explanation turns a bit wobbly?
Ah, you're a good man, El Tel.
Rule of thumb must always be: if Maria doesn't know it, then it doesn't exist.
Thanks very much for confirming that my original belief was correct. I'll have to tell Tom he led me astray!
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