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A true name is a name of a thing or being that expresses, or is somehow identical with, its true nature. The notion that language, or some specific sacred language, refers to things by their true names has been central to magic, religious invocation and mysticism (mantras) since antiquity.

Contents 1 Folklore 2 Linguistic context 3 In cryptography 4 See also 5 References 5.1 Notes 5.2 Sources

[edit] Folklore

In folklore, knowledge of a true name allows one to magically affect a person or being.^[1] Such names could give the person who knew them power even over gods in some beliefs, and the effect is used in many tales.^[2]

In Rumpelstiltskin and all its variants, the girl can free herself from the power of a supernatural helper who demands her child by learning its name.^[3]

A legend of Saint Olaf recounts how a troll built a church for the saint at a fantastic speed and price, but the saint was able to free himself by learning the troll's name in a walk in the woods.^[4] Similarly, the belief that unbaptized children were in particular danger of having the fairies kidnap them and leave changelings in their place may stem from their unnamed state.^[5] In the Scandinavian variants of the ballad Earl Brand, the hero can defeat all his enemies until the heroine, running away with him, pleads with him by name to spare her youngest brother.^[6]

In Scandinavian beliefs, more magical beasts, such as the Nix, could be defeated by calling their name.^[7]

Much of Renaissance demonology is based on the idea of achieving power over a demon by knowledge of its true name.

The ancient Jews considered their God's true name so potent that they believed its invocation conferred upon the speaker tremendous power over his creations. In order to prevent abuse of this power, as well as in to avert blasphemy, the name of God was always taboo, and so increasingly disused so that by the time of Jesus their High Priest was supposedly the only individual who spoke it aloud — and then only in the Holy of Holies upon the Day of Atonement. ^[8]

This belief is employed in many fantasy works. Bilbo Baggins, in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, uses a great deal of trickery to keep the dragon, Smaug, from learning his name, which even the sheltered hobbit seems to consider a very foolish thing to do.^[9]

Christians demonstrate this belief within the common liturgical trope of the Trinitarian formula.

[edit] Linguistic context

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Socrates in Cratylus (dialogue) considers the possibility without taking a clear position. Hellenistic Judaism emphasized the divine nature of logos, later adopted by the Gospel of John. The true name of God plays a central role in Kabbalism (see Gematria, Temurah, JHWH) and to some extent in Sufism (see 100th name of God). Bhartrhari and his followers advocating the sphota theory argued for an identity of word and meaning in spite of the outward (phonetic) form of a word taking various shapes.

The early modern efforts towards a philosophical language were the quest to recover the language that refers to all things by their true names.

The notion of a "true name" is related to the field of phonosemantics, the study of a possible intrinsic relationship between sound (the spoken word) and the thing referred to. The opposite position is known as conventionalism. This is the default position of modern linguistics at least since Ferdinand de Saussure (l'arbitraire du signe), although some scholars, such as Otto Jespersen and George Steiner, take an intermediate position, and there is some renewed research in sound symbolism notably by Margaret Magnus and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran.

[edit] In cryptography

The term "true name" is sometimes used in cryptography and computer security to refer to a name that is assumed to uniquely identify a principal in a global namespace (for example, an X.500 or X.509 Distinguished name). This usage is often critical, with the implication that use of true names is difficult to enforce and unwise to rely on.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• True names in popular culture
• Satnam
• magic word
• mantra
• Names of God
• Adamic language
• Logos
• Shabda
• Ineffability
• phonosemantics

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Sources

• John Clute and John Grant, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, "True Name" p 966 ISBN 0-312-10869-8