Totemism

Totem is the representation of a symbol by an animal, and totemism is the system or science of such symbolism. Thus, in Egyptian mythology, what is represented as a pig or hippopotamus by one tribe, is (for some totemic reason) represented as a crocodile by another.

“The apparent wealth of [Egyptian] mythology depends on the totemism of the inhabitants of the Nile Valley… . Each district had its own special animal as the emblem of the tribe dwelling in that locality.”—Lockyer: Nineteenth Century, July 1892, p. 51.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Totemism

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