ABSTRACT
The Motif-Index lists various examples of speaking tabus, including speaking during a certain time, before a certain time, asking questions, speaking to strangers, cursing, using obscene language, and uttering the name of a person or thing or god or gods. The tabu against uttering the name of a malevolent creature also has its reverse in folklore, in that naming the devil will cause him to go away. An old proverb, "Talk of the devil and he will appear," explains motif C433, "Tabu: uttering name of malevolent creature. To avoid the evil results of naming these creatures other names are substituted." In Greek mythology, there are two, and later three, avenging deities, the horrific-looking daughters of night, who punish wrongdoers both in this world and after death. The Romans called them the Furies. The Greeks originally called them the Erinyes; "the form Eumenides, which signifies 'the well-meaning,' is a euphemism, because people dreaded to call these goddesses by their real name".
