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DOLL

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 389 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DOLL , a See also:

child's plaything in the shape of a human figure or taken as representing one. The word " doll " was not in See also:common use in the See also:middle ages, " See also:children's babies " and other terms being substituted for it; the commonly accepted view is that it is abbreviated from the name Dorothy (cf. Scottish " Doroty "). " Idol " has also been connected with it; but the See also:accent is held to tell against this. Another derivation is from Norse daul (woman), with which may be compared O.H.G. toccha, M.H.G. docke, a girl, doll, used also in the sense of butterfly, nightmare, &c., thus connecting the doll with magic and superstition. The same connexion is found in See also:Asia See also:Minor, See also:South See also:India, among the See also:Pueblo peoples and in South See also:Africa; See also:philology apart, therefore, the derivation from " idol " has much to recommend it, and some See also:side See also:influence from this word may well have caused the selection of the See also:form " doll." Dolls proper should be distinguished from (a) idols, (b) magical figurines, (c) votive offerings, (d) See also:costume figures. The festival figures of See also:Japan, like the See also:bambino of See also:Italy, given to the child only on certain See also:saints' days, hardly come within the See also:category of dolls. Dolls were known in See also:ancient See also:Egypt (XVIIIthD ynasty) and Asia Minor; they were common both in See also:Greece and See also:Rome; See also:Persius mentions that girls vowed them to See also:Venus when they got married; dolls found in the catacombs are preserved in the Vatican and the Museum Carpegna. The veupoo-nracrrov (See also:Lat. crepundia) of See also:Greek finds of the 6th and later centuries B.C. was a marionette. Dolls were in use among the See also:Arabs at the See also:time of See also:Mahomet, and the See also:prophet's nine-See also:year-old wife Ayesha is said to have induced him to join her in her See also:play with them. Although Mahommedanism prohibits the making of figures in human shape, dolls do not seem to have disappeared from See also:Mahommedan countries, though substitutes for them are perhaps more common there than elsewhere. - Dolls are extremely common in Africa.

There seem to be forms See also:

peculiar to different regions, such as the See also:flat, See also:spade-shaped figure on the See also:Gold See also:Coast. Among the Wasaramo the girls carry from°the See also:age of See also:puberty till the See also:birth of their first child an See also:object indistinguishable from the See also:ordinary doll; it is called mwana ya kiti (See also:stool-child) because it is placed on a stool at See also:home; it probably has a magical significance. The same may be said of the Australian figurines; others, made of See also:cane, are undoubtedly children's dolls; excellently moulded See also:wax figures are also found. In Asia dolls properly so-called are apparently rare; but there are specimens in museums from the See also:Malay See also:peninsula, See also:Persia and South India, and in Asia Minor children use cushions, &c., as surrogates. They are found in See also:Alaska among the See also:Eskimo. Most Red See also:Indian tribes had them; a See also:mother who has lost her child carries its dolls and other playthings. See also:Cortes is said to have found Montezuma and his See also:court playing with elaborate dolls; they have been dug up from prehistoric Peruvian See also:graves. In the Gran See also:Chaco metacarpal bones of the See also:rhea are in use, wrapped in a blanket when they represent male, in a See also:petticoat when they are See also:female. But little See also:attention has been paid to the psychological side of dolls. Though many boys play with them, dolls are mainly confined to girls; and female dolls predominate in the proportion of twelve to one. The See also:culmination of the doll See also:instinct is between the age of eight and nine; but they are not entirely dropped till much later; in fact unmarried and childless See also:women sometimes keep it up for years. In children it is said by See also:Hall to be by no means always a manifestation of the maternal instinct; for dolls are not always regarded as children, and the proportion of adults increases with the age of the children.

But the important point is whether the child regarded itself as older or younger than the389 doll. There is, on the other See also:

hand, a tendency to neglect dolls for babies and a See also:reverse current of love of dolls which arises out of love of babies.

End of Article: DOLL

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