tartar

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/, /ˈtɑː.tə/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tartre, borrowed from Old French tartre,^[2][3][4][5] from Medieval Latin tartarum,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek τάρταρον (tártaron, “tartar encrusting the sides of wine casks”).^[2][3][4][6] The Greek word is perhaps of Semitic or other Oriental origin, but no exact source has been found.^[4] The unrelated Tartar (a person of Central Asia) comes, through Medieval Latin Tartarus, from Persian Tātār, altered by association with Tartarus, the classical underworld.^[2][4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The crust of potassium bitartrate deposited in wine casks during fermentation (c. 1386 in the OED; 1392 in Barnhart).^[7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the word was applied generally to any crust deposited from a liquid (1605),^[7][4] and in 1806 specifically to the hard deposit that forms on teeth.^[7][3][4] The purified substance from the wine deposit is cream of tartar (1584).^[7][4] The ethnic name Tartar gave the sense “savage, violent or irritable person” (1663) and the phrase to catch a Tartar, to tackle someone who proves unexpectedly formidable (1663).^[7][4]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – the deposit in wine casks.^[7][3][4]
• 1584 – cream of tartar.^[7]
• 1605 – any crust deposited by a liquid.^[7]
• 1663 – Tartar, a violent or intractable person, and to catch a Tartar.^[7][4]
• 1790 – the adjective tartaric.^[3]
• 1806 – the deposit on the teeth.^[7][3][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A hard yellowish deposit on the teeth, formed from plaque hardened by mineral salts; dental calculus.
2. A reddish crust, chiefly potassium bitartrate, deposited in wine casks during fermentation; the source of cream of tartar.
3. (often capitalized) A person of violent or irritable temper; also, someone who proves unexpectedly formidable.

Word family

• tartaric
• tartrate
• cream of tartar

Related words

• Tartarus
• Tatar
• tartar sauce

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press