ABSTRACT
The search for the primitive is the attempt to define a primary human potential. All major European languages except Greek seem to have adopted the word primitive from a medieval (Church) Latin source; whether the word was mediated through medieval-modern French, where it first appeared in the 14th century, is, except in the instance of English, difficult to determine. Primitive societies rest on a communalistic economic base. In primitive societies, the major functions and roles of leadership are communal and traditional, not political or secular. Primitive societies tend to be conservative; they change slowly compared with technologically dominated cultures; consequently, they do not manifest the internal turbulence endemic in archaic or contemporary civilizations. The ordinary member of primitive society participates in a much greater segment of his social economy than do individuals in archaic civilizations and technically sophisticated, modern civilizations.
