tattoo English · revision 1939

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tæˈtu/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ There are two words.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) The military signal is an alteration of earlier ''taptoo'',^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[bor|nl|taptoe|t=taps shut]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from ''tap'' “tap of a cask”^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) and ''toe'' “shut, to”.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) The skin marking is of Polynesian origin,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) compare Tahitian and Samoan ''tatau'' and Marquesan ''tatu'' “a mark made on the skin”.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A drum or bugle signal in the evening calling soldiers to their quarters (1644 as ''tap-too''; about 1627 in Merriam-Webster).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The signal was so called because the police used to visit taverns in the evening to shut off the taps of the casks.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) From the signal came a military entertainment of music and exercises (1742),^(OED 1989) and any steady drumming or rapping (1755),^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) as in the ''devil's tattoo'' of impatient fingers (1803).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The skin sense entered English in 1769 in the writings of Captain James Cook,^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(OED 1989) first spelled ''tattow'';^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) the spelling ''tattoo'' is from 1774.^(Barnhart 1995) Sailors brought the custom to Europe from the Pacific.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1644 – ''tap-too'', the evening signal.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1688 – ''tattoo'', the signal; any drumbeat.^(Barnhart 1995)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1742 – a military entertainment.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1755 – a rapping or pulsation.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1769 – verb, to mark the skin (''tattow''), in Cook.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1769 – noun, the mark or practice.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1780 – verb, to drum or rap.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1803 – ''devil's tattoo''.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A permanent design on the skin made by inserting pigment through punctures, or by raising scars.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A signal on a drum or bugle calling soldiers or sailors to their quarters at night.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An outdoor military display or pageant, often in the evening.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A continuous, rhythmic drumming or rapping.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To mark the skin with a tattoo, or to put a tattoo on the skin.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To drum or rap rhythmically.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tattooer]]

+ * [[tattooist]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tap]]

+ * [[taps]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}