TOTEM • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Totem

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noun

Totem n.

A rude picture, as of a bird, beast, or the like, used by the North American Indians as a symbolic designation, as of a family or a clan; also, the object or animal itself, considered as an symbol of the family. "And they painted on the grave posts Of the graves, yet unforgotten, Each his own ancestral totem Each the symbol of his household; Figures of the bear and reindeer, Of the turtle, crane, and beaver." "The totem, the clan deity, the beast or bird who in some supernatural way attends to the clan and watches over it."

Anything which serves as a venerated or mystic symbol or emblem.

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Etymology of 'Totem'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Totem" Quotes from Famous Books

... course of time certain bodies of men came to regard themselves as being in special alliance with some one animal, and as being descended from that animal as their common ancestor. The existence side by side of various tribes, each with its definite totem, has not yet been fully proved for the Gaulish system, and may well have been a developed social arrangement that was not an essential part of such a mode of thought in its primary forms. The place of animal-worship in the Celtic religion will be more fully considered ...

— Celtic Religion - in Pre-Christian Times • Edward Anwyl

... havoc and his weapons lost their lusting, Till his stormy eyes allured her from the land of Totem Poles, Till she followed where he called her, followed with a woman's trusting, To the canyon where the ...

— Flint and Feather • E. Pauline Johnson

... had been strong warriors in the Chis-chis-chash; his father's shirt and leggins were black at the seams with the hair of other tribes. He, too, had stolen ponies, but had done no better than that thus far, while he burned to keep the wolf-totem red with honor. Only last night, a few of his boy companions, some even younger than himself, had gone away to the Absaroke for glory and scalps, and ponies and women—a war-party—the one thing to which an Indian pulsed ...

— The Way of an Indian • Frederic Remington

... bird! Thy course no chance Directed. Talismanic art Thou held by this nomadic tribe: For, when the First Wacumic ruled The band, from all the hosts of field And feathery flock of heaven, thou wert Elected Totem. Favored One! Their fate forever linked to thine; Thy image crested on their shields; Thy ...

— Indian Legends of Minnesota • Various

Words linked to "Totem" : the States, tribe, U.S., U.S.A., United States, US, emblem, kin, totem pole, USA, clan