
[Middle English, from Old French primitif, primitive, from Latin prīmitīvus, from prīmitus, at first, from prīmus, first.]
primitively prim'i·tive·ly adv.(1) In computer graphics, a graphics element that is used as a building block for creating images, such as a point, line, arc, cone or sphere.
(2) In programming, a fundamental instruction, statement or operation. See machine instruction.
(3) In microprogramming, a microinstruction, or elementary machine operation. See microcode.
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adjective
Definition: ancient, original
Antonyms: current, modern, new, present, recent
adj
Definition: barbaric, crude
Antonyms: civilized, cultured, modern, sophisticated
Type of architecture mnemonic of the very beginning, the earliest, original, crude, or fundamental. Suggested by roughness and squatness (as in the primitive Doric from Paestum with its exaggerated entasis), it was a feature of advanced late-C18 Neo-Classicism.
Bibliography
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The term "primitive" (sometimes "primeval" or "primal") is close to "archaic," but should be distinguished from the latter in that "primitive" refers not to origins but rather to an anthropological or historical description of cultural phenomena (myths, religions, legends) or modes of thinking that remain unconscious in modern, civilized humans.
Freud's interest in the primitive was manifested as early as "A Project for a Scientific Psychology" (1950c [1895]), where he cited Charles Darwin. Thereafter, this notion is always found at the interface between, on the one hand, Freud's preoccupation with biological evolution and phylogenesis and, on the other, his hypotheses on the formation of social groups, as presented in particular in Totem and Taboo (1912-1913a) and Moses and Monotheism (1939a [1934-1938]).
In Freud's hypothesis, as outlined in "On the Universal Tendency to Debasement in the Sphere of Love" (1912d), "primitive" people, although they too live in a civilization remote from archaic times, are the equivalent of the childhood of "civilized" people. Thus everything about them is relevant to the study of humanity as a whole. Among salient examples of Freud's use of the term in his work are references to primitive religions and primitive sexual rites of worship (letter to Wilhelm Fliess dated January 24, 1897) and to primitive languages in which, as in dreams, there is no such thing as negation or contradiction (1900a), or in which a word is even systematically used with opposite meanings to express ambivalence (1910e).
In fact, thought itself, at these primitive stages, possesses original characteristics—such as conceptions of death, mechanisms of projection, and sexualized thought—as are found in magical beliefs or animism (1912-1913a). Freud hypothesized that social organization is initially patriarchal (the primal horde), then matriarchal (the divinization of woman as mother and the grouping of brothers into totemic clans), and finally once again patriarchal and patrilineal, with a unique God replacing the primal father. This conception constitutes a model for viewing collective life in general in its different, ever unstable configurations. The notion of the primitive always appears at the boundaries of myth, legend, and history, which are characteristic of the primitive style of writing history (1909d).
The primal scene (when a child is first emotionally aware of his parents copulating) also condenses certain epistemological questions that can be raised about the primitive, particularly concerning the reality of what the small child has seen or heard in connection with the parents' sexual relations.
The notion of the primitive occupies a central place in Freud's thought. It is the equivalent, at the collective level, to the infantile at the individual level. This aspect of Freud's work provides the outlines for fruitful interaction between anthropology and psychoanalysis.
Bibliography
Freud, Sigmund. (1950c [1895]). A project for a scientific psychology. SE, 1: 281-387.
——. (1900a). The interpretation of dreams. SE, 4: 1-338; 5: 339-625.
——. (1909d). Notes upon a case of obsessional neurosis. SE, 10: 151-318.
——. (1910e). The antithetical meaning of primal words. SE, 11: 153-161.
——. (1912d). On the universal tendency to debasement in the sphere of love. SE, 11: 177-190.
——. (1912-1913a). Totem and taboo. SE, 13: 1-161.
——. (1939a [1934-1938]). Moses and monotheism: Three essays. SE, 23: 1-137.
——. (1985). The complete letters of Sigmund Freud toWilhelm Fliess, 1887-1904 (Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
—SOPHIEDE MIJOLLA-MELLOR
Worldwide, there are about 3,400 members of this very ancient plant group, which exhibit primitive characteristics.
— Diane E. Bilderback
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First in point of time; existing in a simple or early form; showing little evolution.

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - primitiv, ur-
n. - urmenneske
Nederlands (Dutch)
primitief, oorspronkelijk, eenvoudig, primitief iets/ iemand, bepaalde kunststijl
Français (French)
adj. - primitif
n. - (Art) primitif, (Anthrop) primitif
Deutsch (German)
adj. - primitiv
n. - Primitiver, Maler der Zeit vor der Renaissance, Stammwort
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - πρωτόγονος
n. - πρωτόγονος (άνθρωπος κ.λπ.), πριμιτίφ
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - primitivo, simplista, atrasado
n. - primitivo (m)
Русский (Russian)
примитивный, примитив
Español (Spanish)
adj. - primitivo, primario, rudimentario
n. - primitivo
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - ursprunglig, primitiv, enkel, stam-, rot- (språkv.)
n. - urinnevånare, grundord (språkv.), primitiv konstutövare
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
原始的, 旧式的, 上古的, 原始人, 早期艺术家
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 原始的, 舊式的, 上古的
n. - 原始人, 早期藝術家
한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 원시의, 원시시대의
n. - 원시인, 소박한 사람
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 原始の, 初期の, 太古の, 原始的な, 未開文化の, 根本の, 一次の
n. - 原始人, 素朴な人, 原線, 原始関数
العربيه (Arabic)
(صفه) أصلي, أولي, قديم (الاسم) من صنع فنان درس, الفن على نفسه, شيء بدائي
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - פרימיטיבי, מיושן, פשוט, גס, קמאי, ראשיתי, קדמון
n. - צייר מהתקופה שלפני הרנסנס, צייר המצייר בסגנון ישיר ותמים, תמונה המצוירת בסגנון פשוט, קו או מילה פשוטים
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