| 释义 |
primitive, a. and n.|ˈprɪmɪtɪv|
Forms: α. 5 primitif, prymytiff, 6 primityve, (premetive), 6– primitive. β. (5 premative, 6 -yve), 6 primatife, -yve, prymatyfe, -ive, 5–7 primative.
[ME. primitif, a. F. primitif (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. prīmitīv-us first or earliest of its kind, f. prīmus first, prime a.: cf. primitiæ. The β-forms were app. influenced by primate n.]
A. adj.
I. General senses.
1. a. Of or belonging to the first age, period, or stage; pertaining to early times; earliest, original; early, ancient. Primitive Church, the Christian Church in its earliest and (by implication) purest times.
α1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 27 No religyon is founded hytherto, yt so nere representeth y⊇ primityue chirche of Chryst. c1540tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. iv. 178 Which good primitive successe purchased him muche quietnes. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Commination, In the prymitiue churche there was a godlye disciplyne, that at the begynnyng of lente suche persones as were notorious synners were put to open penaunce. 1581J. Hamilton Cath. Traictise in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.) 76 According to the ancient estait of the premetiue kirk. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 671 The primitive generation came first and immediatly from the earth, but afterwards..they breed their yoong. 1669Flamsteed in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 77 That illustrious body [the Royal Society], of which you have stood a primitive member. 1795Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 285, I wish very much to see..an image of a primitive Christian Church. 1858Longfellow M. Standish ix. 89 Like a picture it seemed of the primitive, pastoral ages, Fresh with the youth of the world, and recalling Rebecca and Isaac. a1878Sir G. G. Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) I. 5 The great valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia..were the cradles of primitive art.
β1486Hen. VII at York in Surtees Misc. (1888) 54 This rigalitie, Whos primative patrone I peyre to your presence, Ebraunk of Britane. 1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1346/2 It was knowen..unto the primatiue churche or congregacion of chrysten people. 1589Cooper Admon. 217 The practise of the primatiue Church. 1630Prynne Anti-Armin. 119 Adam in his primatiue estate.
b. Applied to behaviour or mental processes that apparently originate in unconscious needs or desires and have not been affected by objective logical reasoning.
1910Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. XXI. 115 The following investigation of children's spontaneous constructions and primitive activities is made in the hope..that a clearer, saner insight into the child's nature and needs may follow. 1919M. K. Bradby Psycho-Anal. iii. 28 The mind is unevenly developed, and what is relatively primitive co-exists with what is advanced without completely harmonising with it. 1923L. A. Clare tr. Lévy-Bruhl's Primitive Mentality 32 If then, primitive mentality avoids and ignores logical thought, if it refrains from reasoning and reflecting, it is not from incapacity to surmount what is evident to sense. 1924Brit. Jrnl. Med. Psychol. IV. 32 Synthetic or intuitional conceptions of the unconscious, based on analogies with primitive notions and behaviour. 1962M. Gabain tr. Piaget's Moral Judgment of Child ii. 189 It is not nearly so natural as one would think for primitive thought to take intentions into account.
2. a. Having the quality or style of that which is early or ancient. In first quot. = Conformed to the pattern of the early church (see 1 a). Also, Simple, rude, or rough like that of early times; old-fashioned. (With implication of either commendation or the reverse.)
1685Evelyn Diary 2 Oct., The Church of England..is certainely, of all the Christian professions on the earth, the most primitive, apostolical and excellent. Ibid. 26 Oct., A maiden of primitive life,..who..has for many years refus'd marriage, or to receive any assistance from the parish. 1752H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 459 A poor good primitive creature. 1822W. Irving Braceb. Hall iii, Her manners are simple and primitive. 1838Lytton Alice ii. ii, At her very primitive wardrobe. 1889G. Findlay Eng. Railway 9 The engines employed [in 1830] were of an extremely primitive character.
Comb.1847Hook Eccl. Biog. III. 546 (Chad) Struck by the worth of this primitive-mannered christian. 1865Cornh. Mag. July 40 To..hear such primitive-sounding words as..‘overtune’ for the burden of a song.
b. Anthrop. That relates to a group, or to persons comprising such groups, whose culture, through isolation, has remained at a simple level of social and economic organization.
[1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xxxviii. 638 From this abject condition, perhaps the primitive and universal state of man.] 1903C. S. Myers in Rep. Cambr. Anthropol. Exped. Torres Straits II. ii. 143 Stories which travellers relate about the remarkable capacity possessed by primitive peoples for distinguishing faint sounds amid familiar surroundings, cannot be accepted as evidence of an unusually acute hearing. 1920R. H. Lowie Primitive Society (1921) i. 12 The knowledge of primitive society has an educational value that should recommend its study. 1938R. Bunzel in F. Boas Gen. Anthropol. 333 There are..certain primitive societies where the accumulation of wealth is considered undesirable. 1954R. Firth in Inst. Primitive Society ii. 15 As I (and I think most of my colleagues) use it, ‘primitive’ is little more than a technological index—a shorthand term for a type of economic life in which the tool system and level of material achievement is fairly simple: little use of metals; no complex mechanical apparatus; no indigenous system of writing. 1963Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. XIV. 21 Many books by social anthropologists have titles which include the word primitive. When we use this word..we refer to a low level of technology which limits social relationships to a narrow range. 1976J. Friedl Cultural Anthropol. viii. 316 The primitive economy is one that is controlled exclusively by the local community.
3. Original as opposed to derivative; primary as opposed to secondary; esp. said of that from which something else is derived; radical. (Cf. primary a. 3 a.)
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 65 (Add. MS.) Þere beþ oþere causes þat beþ clepyd causes prymytiff. 1543Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. 26/2 It commeth of the cause primitiue thoroughe brusynge or breakyng. 1581Mulcaster (title) Positions wherin those Primitive Circumstances be Examined, which are Necessarie for the Training vp of Children. a1628Preston New Covt. (1634) 27 God is the primitive, he is the originall, he is the first, the universal cause. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 854 Life and Understanding, Soul and Mind are to them, no Simple and Primitive Natures, but Secondary and Derivative. 1812Brackenridge Views Louisiana (1814) 38 This valley is confined by what may be termed, as distinguished from the alluvions, primitive ground. 1846Grote Greece i. xv. (1862) I. 238 The primitive ancestor of the Trojan line of kings is Dardanus.
II. Special and technical senses.
4. a. Gram. and Philol. Of a word or language: Original, radical: opposed, or correlative to derivative.
1530Palsgr. Introd. 29 Of pronownes there be thre chefe sortes, primityves, derivatyves, and demonstratyves. Ibid., Pronownes primityves be fyve, je, tu, se, nous, vous. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. viii. (1627) 123 The primitiue word whereof they come, or some words neere vnto them. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 36 The Turkish Language is a primitive and original Language, that's to say, not derived from any of the Oriental or Occidental Tongues that we have any knowledge of. 1706Phillips s.v., Primitive Word (in Grammar) an original Word, from which others of the kind are derived. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. iii. 55 A primitive word is that which cannot be reduced to any simpler word in the language: as, man, good, content. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 18 To have a distinction in the primitive and not in the derivative word is always confusing.
b. Philol. Applied to a parent language at an early, unrecorded, or reconstructed stage of its development into a group of dialects or languages.
1878T. L. Kington-Oliphant Old & Middle Eng. i. 13 The Primitive Aryan katvar changes to the Gothic fidwor (our four). 1895Kellner & Bradley Morris's Hist. Outl. Eng. Accidence (rev. ed.) iii. 30 The Teutonic languages differ much more from Primitive Aryan in the consonants than in the vowels. 1898Primitive Germanic [used s.v. Germanic a. 2]. 1914H. C. Wyld Short Hist. Eng. ii. 32 Parent, or Primitive Germanic, was divided into three great branches. 1920Trans. Philol. Soc. 1916–20 129 (heading) Primitive Slavonic. 1933L. Bloomfield Language i. 13 If a language is spoken over a large area,..the result will be a set of related languages... We infer that..the Germanic (or the Slavic or the Celtic)..have arisen in the same way; it is only an accident of history that for these groups we have no written records of the language, as it was spoken before the differentiation set in. To these unrecorded parent languages we give names like Primitive Germanic (Primitive Slavic, Primitive Celtic, and so on). [Note] The word primitive is here poorly chosen, since it is intended to mean only that we happen to have no written records of the language. German scholars have a better device in their prefix ur- ‘primeval’. 1972M. L. Samuels Linguistic Evol. 2. The alternation corresponding to stand-stood was regular in the Indo-European system, and so with that corresponding to seek-sought in Primitive Germanic.
5. a. Math., etc. Applied to a line or figure from which some construction or reckoning begins; or to a curve, surface, magnitude, equation, operation, etc., from which another is in some way derived, or which is not itself derived from another.
primitive circle or primitive plane, the circle or plane upon which projection is made. primitive radii, in geared wheels, = proportional radii.
1690Leybourn Curs. Math. 668 b, The Meridian passing through L is the Primitive Circle. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Number, Primitive or prime Number, is that which is only divisible by unity. 1831Brewster Optics xxi. 185 The plane R r s, or the plane in which the light is polarised, is called the plane of primitive polarisation. 1864Webster s.v., Primitive axes of co-ordinates, that system of axes to which the points of a magnitude are first referred with reference to a second set or system, to which they are afterward referred. 1878Gurney Crystallogr. 34 The great circle is called the primitive. 1895Story-Maskelyne Crystallogr. ii. 25 The plane of projection thus bounded by a great circle of the sphere is represented by the plane of the paper on which the circle is drawn, which latter will be termed the circle of projection or primitive circle.
b. Cryst. Applied to a fundamental crystalline form from which all the other forms may be derived by geometrical processes; the form obtained by cleaving the crystal, inferred to be that of the nucleus from which the crystal grew. primitive cell, the smallest unit cell of any particular lattice, having lattice points at each of its eight corners only; primitive lattice, a lattice generated by the repeated translation of a primitive cell.
1805–17R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 3) 136 This new regular form is by Hauy named the Primitive nucleus; and the crystal whose form is the same the Primitive form. 1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 536 The primitive form of muriate of barytes is, according to Hauy, a four-sided prism, whose bases are squares. 1831Brewster Optics xxv. 214 This mineral,..called cubizite, has been regarded by mineralogists as having the cube for its primitive form. 1931Zeitschr. f. Kristallogr. LXXIX. 501 The cell chosen is..not necessarily the primitive, i.e. smallest cell, as such a cell would often demand a description in oblique and inconvenient axes. But it is always either the primitive cell or a one- or three-face-centred or a body-centred cell. 1932Ann. Rep. Progr. Chem. XXVIII. 263 P stands for primitive lattice. Ibid., The rhombohedral lattice is designated by R, and the hexagonal by C or H according as the crystallographic axes coincide with or are perpendicular to the primitive translations of the lattice. 1945C. W. Bunn Chem. Crystallogr. vii. 223 In a set of symbols characterizing a space-group, the first is always a capital letter which indicates whether the lattice is simple (P for primitive), body-centred (I for inner), side-centred (A, B, or C), or centred on all faces (F). 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 595/1 The three primitive cells of the cubic lattices are, respectively, a cube, a rhombohedron with a plane angle of 109° 28′, and a rhombohedron with an angle of 60°. The two rhombohedra are extremely inconvenient to handle; consequently, the body-centered and face-centered cubes are adopted in their stead. 1974D. M. Adams Inorg. Solids ii. 12 In general it is convenient to work with the cell of highest symmetry and this is not necessarily primitive.
c. Applied to any root of an integer n such that the least power to which the root can be raised to yield unity modulo n is the totient of n.
1837J. Hymers Treat. Theory Algebraical Equations x. 193 If r be one of the roots and a be a primitive root of the prime number n..it is proved..that all the roots of this equation may be represented by r, ra, [etc.]. 1916G. A. Miller et al. Theory & Applic. Finite Groups xv. 308 For any prime p, it is shown in the theory of numbers that there exists a primitive root g of p such that 1, g, g2, .., gp-2, when divided by p, give in some order the remainders 1, 2, 3, .., p - 1. 1972J. E. & M. W. Maxfield Discovering Number Theory viii. 65 A primitive root (mod m) exists for m = 2, 4, pa, and 2pa, where p is an odd prime and a is a positive integer. There is no primitive root for other values of m.
d. Group Theory. [tr. G. primitiv (S. Lie Theorie der Transformationsgruppen (1888) I. xiii. 221).] Applied to a substitution group whose letters cannot be partitioned into disjoint proper subsets in a way that is preserved by every element of the group.
1888Amer. Jrnl. Math. X. 300 A group in the plane is primitive when with each ordinary point which we hold, no invariant direction is connected. 1897W. Burnside Theory of Groups of Finite Order ix. 177 A simple group can always be represented in primitive form. 1933L. P. Eisenhart Continuous Groups of Transformations ii. 80 The group of motions in the euclidean plane is primitive. 1968D. Passman Permutation Groups i. 14 Let G be a transitive permutation group of prime degree. Then G is primitive.
e. Logic and Math. [tr. It. primitive (G. Peano 1897, in Atti della R. Accad. delle Sci. di Torino XXXII. 568).] Applied to concepts and propositions that serve as the basis of a deductive system and are not further defined or demonstrated; primitive recursive (see recursive a. 2 a).
1903B. Russell Princ. Math. p. xi (heading) Two indefinables and ten primitive propositions in this calculus. 1910Whitehead & Russell Principia Math. I. i. i. 95 Following Peano, we shall call the undefined ideas and the undemonstrated propositions primitive ideas and primitive propositions respectively. 1922tr. Wittgenstein's Tractatus 121 The possibility of crosswise definition of the logical ‘primitive signs’ of Frege and Russell shows by itself that these are not primitive signs and that they signify no relations. 1932Lewis & Langford Symbolic Logic i. 23 Thus it is proved that these primitive ideas and postulates for logic are the only assumptions required for the whole of mathematics. 1952P. Geach tr. Frege's Philos. Writings 161 The same happens for the formula a = b. In some cases its meaning can be assumed as a primitive idea, in others it is defined. 1959M. Bunge Causality ix. 233 Neither Aristotle nor his followers seem to have been aware of the logical necessity of admitting..a set of unexplained or primitive concepts and ideas in order to avoid reasoning in a circle. 1970E. Duckworth tr. Piaget's Genetic Epistemol. 7 Simultaneity, then, is not a primitive intuition; it is an intellectual construction.
f. Applied to those nth roots of unity of which the nth power, but no lower power, is unity.
1916G. A. Miller et al. Theory & Applic. Finite Groups xvii. 325 For ps = 9, the six primitive ninth roots of unity are ρ, ρ2, ρ4, ρ5, ρ7, ρ8 and are the roots of x6 + x3 + 1 = 0. 1971E. C. Dade in Powell & Higman Finite Simple Groups viii. 274 We conclude that F contains a primitive eth root of unity.
6. Of colours: = primary a. 6 a.
1759Symmer in Phil. Trans. LI. 368 He ranged a number of ribbands, of all the primitive colours. 1822J. Imison Sc. & Art I. 247 As a ray of the sun may be separated into these seven primitive colours. 1867J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 27 The primitive rays—red, yellow, and blue—of which a colourless ray of light is composed.
7. Geol. Belonging (or supposed to belong) to the earliest geological period; applied to those rocks or formations held to be older than any fossiliferous strata, or of which the contained fossils have been obliterated by metamorphism; = primary a. 4 a (in its obs. sense).
1777Hamilton in Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 106 Most of the mountains which are called primitive..are of this texture. 1813Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 446 Those rocks which are called primitive, in reality the original coat of the nucleus of our planet. 1842Brande Dict. Sc., etc. s.v. Geology, The crystalline, massive, and unstratified rocks, which seem to form the bases or foundations upon which the others have been deposited..have therefore been called primary or primitive rocks. 1863A. C. Ramsay Phys. Geog. iv. (1878) 45 The term Primitive, as applied to gneiss, is no longer tenable.
8. Biol., Anat., etc.
a. Applied to a part or structure in the first or a very early stage of formation or growth (whether temporary and subsequently disappearing, or developing into the fully formed structure); rudimentary, primordial. primitive streak or primitive trace, the faint streak which constitutes the earliest trace of the embryo in the fertilized ovum; primitive groove, (a) = primitive streak; (b) a groove or furrow which appears (in vertebrates) in the upper surface of the primitive streak, and marks the beginning of the vertebral column.
b. Applied to the minute or ultimate elements of a structure, or to some part connected with these: as the primitive fibrillæ of a nerve; the primitive sheath investing each of these (also called neurilemma).
c. Rarely applied to a structure from which secondary structures arise by branching, as the primitive carotid artery: see quot. 1895.
1857Dunglison Dict. Med. 435/2 Primitive Groove, Primitive streak or trace.., a bright streak in the long axis of the pellucid part of the area germinativa, after it presents a central pellucid and a peripheral opake part. 1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. 299 In the centre of the primitive streak an even, dark line, the so-called primitive groove, becomes defined. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 345 These are called by Dippel bast-fibres, and by Russow protophloem, because they appear as the primitive elements of the phloem. 1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life Introd. 29 The cells [of the mesoblast] arise..from the primitive streak behind the blastopore in Peripatus. 1895Syd. Soc. Lex., Primitive carotid artery..the common carotid artery... P. iliac artery,..the common iliac artery. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 547 It [i.e. pityriasis rosea] usually begins as a solitary patch situated in the neck, trunk, abdomen, or arms,—the ‘primitive patch’ of Brocq.
9. Mus. Applied to a chord in its original or direct form, not inverted.
1811Busby Dict. Mus. s.v., Primitive Chord, that chord the lowest note of which is of the same literal denomination as the fundamental bass of the harmony. The chord taken in any other way, as when its lowest note is the third, or the fifth of the fundamental bass, is called a derivative.
10. Primitive Methodist Connexion (subsequently Primitive Church): a society of Methodists founded by Hugh Bourne in 1810 by secession from the main body; so called as adhering to the original methods of preaching, etc., practised by the Wesleys and Whitefield. Primitive Methodist: a member or adherent of this society. Primitive Methodism: the principles of this society, or adherence to it. Also Primitive Baptist: in the U.S.A., a member of a loosely organized secession of conservative character from the Baptist Church; also attrib.
The Primitive Methodist Connexion (after 1902 known as Primitive Methodist Church) united in 1932 with the United Methodists and Wesleyan Methodists to form the Methodist Church. The Primitive Methodist Church, U.S.A., remains however a separate denomination.
1812H. Bourne Jrnl. in J. Gardner Faiths World II. 426 Thursday, February 13, 1812, we called a meeting, made plans for the next quarter, and made some other regulations; in particular, we took the name of the Primitive Methodist Connexion. 1851T. A. Burke Polly Peablossom's Wedding 143 Brethren Crump and Noel were both members of the Primitive Baptist Church. 1856in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 288 Was recived by examinytion on the primitive baptis faith. 1860J. Gardner Faiths World II. 428/1 Open-air worship is frequently practised by the Primitive Methodists. 1872Z. N. Morrell Flowers & Fruits vi. 72 There was also an organization calling themselves ‘Primitive Baptists’, on the Colorado River. 1933Sun (Baltimore) 24 Aug. 6/4 Elder A. J. Harrison..was elected head of the Ketockin Association, Old School, Primitive Baptists. 1948Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Okla.) 15 July 14/1 The Washita Valley Primitive Baptist association will meet at the Primitive Baptist church here, July 22. 1972J. S. Hall Sayings from Old Smoky 144 Dave Reagan said of the Primitive Baptists, ‘They are just like yellow jackets. They'd 'cruit [recruit] up in summer, and in winter they'd all die out.’.
11. Art.
a. Applied to the art and artists of pre-Renaissance western Europe.
[1843A. de Montor (title) Peintres primitifs.] 1847Ld. Lindsay Sk. Hist. Christian Art II. ii. 93, I strongly suspect an ancestral relation between them [sc. the frescoes of the Baptistery at Parma] and the primitive and interesting school of Bologna. 1857G. Scharf Handbk. Paintings by Anc. Masters (Art Treasures Exhib., Manchester) 5 Ottley,..an earnest student of the earlier periods of Italian art, had formed a small, but very authentic, collection of primitive works. 1923J. Gordon Mod. French Painters ix. 94 In the early Italian primitive painters, and, indeed, in primitives of every order, we find beneath the artists' learning the foundations laid upon what may be called folk painting. 1927R. Fry Flemish Art i. 24 This realization of space implies a sense of colour as a plastic function which is also almost entirely absent in primitive Flemish art. 1932Konody & Lathom Introd. French Painters i. 3 What is known as primitive French painting is a hybrid art, composed of Italian, French, Spanish and German elements in varying proportions. 1970Oxf. Compan. Art 925/1 Within the European context art historians and connoisseurs have used the term ‘primitive’ for early phases within the historical development of painting or sculpture in the various European countries.
b. Executed by one who has not been trained in a formal manner. Also, imitative of an early style suggesting lack of formal training. Of an artist: without formal training. Cf. naïf a. 1 b, naïve a. 1 c.
1942J. Lipman Amer. Primitive Painting 5 The critic..has come..to evaluate primitive art positively rather than negatively. Ibid. 7 The primitive artist typically allowed himself free rein in depicting pose, gesture..and background. 1952M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) viii. 148 On the walls were dark paintings of the first presidents, clergymen and theologians, a primitive engraving showing William Penn and the Indians. 1957Primitive painting [see naïve a. 1 c]. 1962W. Gaunt Everyman's Dict. Pictorial Art I. 12 A native development [in U.S.A.] of great interest in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was that of a ‘primitive’ or folk art, practised by sign painters and other craftsmen and amateurs. 1964J. Summerson Classical Lang. Archit. v. 39 Laugier's primitivism..certainly appealed to him [sc. Sir John Soane] but he was prepared to go much further than Laugier in..inventing a ‘primitive’ order of his own. 1967Primitive portrait [see mourning-piece s.v. mourning vbl. n.1 5]. 1976Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 8 Feb. 7/3 Beryl Cook, seaside landlady and primitive painter, talks to Allen Saddler. 1978I. Murdoch Sea 126 Hartley and Fitch were sitting stiff and upright, like a married pair rendered by a primitive painter.
12. primitive accumulation (Econ.): in Marxist theory, the original accumulation of capital, supposedly derived from the expropriation of small producers or smallholders, from which capitalist production was able to start; hence primitive socialist accumulation: the accumulation of capital which would be needed to start socialist production, also to be derived from the expropriation of small producers, smallholders, or peasants.
1887Moore & Aveling tr. Marx's Capital II. viii. xxvi. 736 The whole movement..seems to turn in a vicious circle, out of which we can only get by supposing a primitive accumulation..preceding capitalistic accumulation. Ibid., This primitive accumulation plays in Political Economy about the same part as original sin in theology. Ibid. 738 The so-called primitive accumulation..is nothing else than the historical process of divorcing the producer from the means of production. 1935E. Burns Handbk. Marxism xvi. 258 The so-called primitive accumulation of capital consisted in this case in the expropriation of these immediate producers. 1950A. Erlich in Q. Jrnl. Econ. LXIV. 69 This formative period of modern capitalism..had now to find its counterpart in ‘primitive socialist accumulation’ which was assumed to serve as midwife in the same way for the socialist society of the future. 1959Listener 29 Oct. 726/1 Trotsky proposed to carry through this Draconian programme, of what he called ‘primitive socialist accumulation’ without Stalin's terrible methods. 1965B. Pearce tr. Preobrazhensky's New Econ. 67 If we partly exclude the operation of the law of value..we must accordingly replace its regulatory action by another law, inherent in planned economy at its present stage of development—the law of primitive socialist accumulation. 1967I. Deutscher Marxism in our Time (1972) 242 It was out of the question that a country like this should be able to achieve socialism in such circumstances. It had to devote all its energies to ‘primitive accumulation’, that is, to the creation under state ownership of the most essential economic preliminaries to any genuine building of socialism.
B. n.
I. Senses related to A. 1.
1. An original or early member of a society or body.
†a. A primitive Christian; a member of the early Church. Obs.
1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) Pref. A iij b, Did not then the primitiues of the East Church amongst the Christians carry away the auriflambe of all religious Zeale? 1651–3Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year i. xiii. 173 The fervors of the Apostles, and other holy primitives. 1686Evelyn Diary 7 Mar., The severall afflictions of the Church of Christ from the primitives to this day.
b. An original inhabitant, an aboriginal; a man of primitive (esp. prehistoric) times. Also transf., someone uncivilized, uncultured.
1779Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 273 The Haraforas, who seem to be the primitives of the island. 1895Daily News 13 May 6/3 The effects sought here relate to the ‘primitives’ of the Irish heroic age. 1924Brit. Jrnl. Med. Psychol. IV. 35 The primitive has in many ways a contact with his environment of a refinement and subtlety that is more than a match for civilized brains. 1926L. A. Clare tr. Lévy-Bruhl's How Natives Think 13 Primitives... By this term, an incorrect one, yet rendered almost indispensable through common usage, we simply mean members of the most elementary social aggregates with which we are acquainted. a1936Kipling Something of Myself (1937) vii. 184 Out of the woods..came two dark and mysterious Primitives. 1967[see Charley, Charlie 8]. 1972Buenos Aires Herald 2 Feb. 7/1 The primitives fight for their territories and economic planners insist that the vast region must be opened. 1977M. Cohen Sensible Words iii. 122 The newly emphasized methods of linguistic analysis include studying the language of children and ‘primitives’.
†2. pl. The primitive or earliest stage; the ‘beginnings’. Obs. rare.
1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 52 Probably..in the primitiues of their institutions they had better, lowlier, and more religious spirits then now they haue. 1609Bible (Douay) Exod. xxix. 28 They are the primitives and beginninges of their pacifique victimes which they offer to the Lord.
3. Short for Primitive Methodist: see A. 10.
1855J. R. Leifchild Cornwall Mines 303 Those worthy though singular people, the Primitives of Redruth. 1906Essex Rev. XV. 135 The ‘Primitives’ in their little thatched and clay-lump chapel.
4. In art criticism:
a. A painter of the early period, i.e. before the Renaissance; also transf. a modern painter who imitates the style of these. More recently, a naïve painter; also transf. of artists working in another medium.
b. A picture painted by any of these. Also attrib., and transf. of other art forms.
1892Spectator 30 Jan. 168/1 O impressionist, do I find you among the primitives? 1892Athenæum 13 Feb. 220/3 In Italy artists we call ‘primitives’, such as Crivelli..still adhered to the early manner while Titian was in his glory. 1895Westm. Gaz. 7 Feb. 3/3 On the left as you enter the room are some notable examples of what may be considered ‘primitives’. 1907Edin. Rev. July 237 Among the work of the Italian ‘primitives’ towns are pretty common in the background. 1907R. Fry Let. 5 Mar. (1972) I. 282 A great Ferrarese altarpiece... The effect will be fine in our Primitive room. 1910E. Singleton Art of Belgian Galleries i. 17 The Last Supper is one of the most profound and best-painted works of the Fifteenth Century; and if one were to make a list of five or six supreme masterpieces of the Flemish Primitives, this would have to be included. 1922C. Bell Since Cézanne 51 One definitely artistic gift..many children do possess..is a sense of the decorative possibilities of their medium. This gift they have in common with the Primitives; and this the douanier possessed in an extraordinary degree. 1923[see primitive a. 11 a]. 1932F. F. Sherman Early Amer. Painting p. xv, Numerous dealers in antiques..offer them for sale..as ‘primitives’. Primitives they certainly are not... They are worthless as works of art or of antiquity. 1934Musical Q. Apr. 214 The Primitives stem from Moussorgsky, through Debussy and the Sacre. 1947G. Greene 19 Stories 155 The first season of ‘primitives’ [sc. films] was announced (a high-brow phrase). 1951R. Firth Elem. Social Organiz. v. 163 When we talk..of the Italian primitives..we are referring..to art that is distinguished primarily by being earlier in time, though it..also bears the character of lack of sophistication. 1952O. Kallir in A. M. Moses Grandma Moses p. xv, Grandma Moses is called a ‘primitive’. Each of her pictures shows plainly that its author has had no art training. 1958Listener 21 Aug. 269/2 The school of the ‘primitives’, represented by John Osborne, Sheelagh Delaney, and..Bernard Kops. 1959E. Pound Thrones ci. 78 Hs'uan Tsung, 1389 natus, painted kittens, and Joey said, ‘are they for real’ before primitives in the Mellon Gallery. 1964Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 20 Jan. (1970) 56 There was also a little American Primitive—just made you merry to look at it. 1974P. De Vries Glory of Hummingbird (1975) iii. 39 We respected the artist's [sc. a writer's] reluctance to show portions of work not in sufficiently polished form because we felt..that here was a true primitive. 1976Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 8 Feb. 22/1 Most of all, her paintings are funny. You can't say that about many primitives. 1977Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 35/2 The Flemish Primitives..would superimpose the dark colours and leave the pale colours transparent.
II. Senses related to A. 3.
5. An original ancestor or progenitor (of humans or animals). ? Obs.
1486Hen. VII at York in Surtees Misc. (1888) 54, I [Ebrauk] am premative of your progenie. 1530Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 771 Ȝe bene, all, Degenerit frome ȝour holy prematyuis. a1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. vii. 201 The various kinds of Dogs..might in their Primitives be of one Species.
6. Gram. A word from which another or others are derived; a root-word. Opp. to derivative. Also, = phonetic n.
1565Cooper Thesaurus *iv, Whether the worde be a Primitiue, or Deriuatiue deduced of some other. 1657–8Evelyn Diary 27 Jan., He..got by heart almost the entire vocabularie of Latine and French primitives. 1755Johnson Dict. Pref. B j b, Of thieflike or coachdriver no notice was needed, because the primitives contain the meaning of the compounds. 1759Adam Smith Orig. Lang. (1790) 451 All the words in the Greek Language are derived from about 300 primitives. 1814J. Marshman Elem. Chinese Gram. 36 If we then add the 214 elements to the 1689 primitives, we shall have one thousand nine hundred and three characters producing nearly the whole language. 1820Q. Rev. Jan. 314 The absence of all distinction between primitives and derivatives. 1874,1907[see phonetic n.]. 1909–10L. Bloomfield in C. F. Hockett Leonard Bloomfield Anthol. (1970) 1 Derivative nouns and verbs also stand..in a definite ablaut relation to their primitives. 1975Language LI. 969 It. bozz-ello..is an authentic derivative from bozza; while bosel, bossel, bozel in Renaissance French is a cluster of completely isolated forms lacking a primitive—a situation which reflects on the grammatical status of -el.
7. Anything from which something else is derived; in quot. 1784, a primitive or primary colour.
1628T. Spencer Logick 139 These arguments haue the same force to argue, that the primitiues haue, from which they are derived. 1784J. Barry in Lect. Paint. vi. (1848) 211 Yellow, red, and blue... These three uncompounded primitives.
8. Math. Any algebraical or geometrical form in relation to another derived from it; as, the original expression or function of which another is the derivative; the original equation from which a differential equation, etc. is obtained; the original curve of which another is the polar, inverse, evolute, etc. spec. a complete primitive. (Short for primitive expression, equation, curve, etc.: see A. 5.)
complete primitive: a primitive equation containing the requisite number of constants to furnish the solution of the derived equation.
1885A. R. Forsyth Treat. Differential Equations i. 8 The relation, which exists between the variables themselves without their differential coefficients and which is the most general one possible, is called sometimes the general solution, and sometimes the primitive, of the differential equation. 1929T. C. Fry Elem. Differential Equations ii. 27 This relation includes every possible solution of the differential equation. It is called the general solution or primitive. 1969B. Spain Ordinary Differential Equations i. 9 Obtain the differential equations corresponding to the primitives..y = c log x..[etc.].
9. Logic and Math. A primitive concept or proposition (see A. 5 e). Also in extended use.
1950Jrnl. Symbolic Logic XV. 130 Hence ϕ and µ as defined above will suffice as the sole primitives for the arithmetic of positive integers. 1960G. Bergman Meaning & Existence ii. 44 It is not required that an improved language be interpreted by interpreting separately all, or even any, of its primitives. 1964M. Black Compan. Wittgenstein's Tractatus 25 We find Wittgenstein..constantly returning to the theme of the ‘logical indefinables’ or the ‘logical primitives’. 1964R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics iv. 133 Many linguists are prepared to accept these terms [sc. contrast and distinctive] as primitives, i.e. as requiring no further definition within linguistics. 1975Language LI. 621 We are not yet in a position to characterize seriously the semantic representation of roots. My guess is that we are not yet aware of the majority of semantic primitives. 1975M. A. Slote Metaphysics & Essence iii. 41 This notion of (an) experience, like the other notions we have been using as primitives, is not just an arbitrary primitive with which to attempt the definition of the concepts we wish to define. 1976J. S. Gruber Lexical Struct. Syntax & Semantics ii. i. 260 Interpretive semantics is valuable only for those functions which a logical calculus entails, and for this it must operate on trees of semantic primitives.
Add:[B.] 10. Computing. A simple operation or procedure, esp. one of a limited set from which more complex operations or procedures may be constructed; also spec. in computer graphics, a simple geometric shape which may be generated by such a subroutine. Cf. senses A. 5 a and e above.
1958Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery Feb. 1 By ‘primitive’ is meant a self-sufficient routine; a second-generation routine is one which calls on one or more primitives. 1968Pattern Recognition I. 170 Any one of the halfplanes determined by the sides of the polygon will actually be a parallel translation of the halfplanes Hi determined by the chosen directions. These halfplanes play the role of primitives or signs. 1971N. Chapin Computers xiv. 381 An operation may be a macro in one programing language and a primitive in another. 1985Practical Computing Sept. 83/2 Graphic primitives—arcs, lines, etc.—are generated on an internal CRT, with automatic exposure control as standard. |