ABSTRACT
The Danish primitivitet derives from the adjective primitiv,1 which comes from the French primitif. This term has its root in the Latin primitivus, which goes back to the word primus meaning “first” (Kierkegaard himself uses the last part of this etymology in the second of the Two Ethical-Religious Essays).2 The Ordbog over det danske Sprog tells us concerning primitiv that it qualifies (1) the first moment or the first stage of development from which some second thing originates and which underlies it. It can also serve to designate (2) what is still at an early stage of culture or civilization, or that which shares the characteristics of something at such an early stage.3 Primitivitet may convey either of these meanings.
