Photo of Tuhoe Maori activist Tame Iti at an event to raise awareness and funds for Maori arrested in 2007 "terror raids" by the New Zealand government. Headshot of a Maori man with facial tattoos.
3 June 2022
The most common meaning of tattoo is a decoration of the skin, usually a permanent one made by inserting a pigment under the skin, but tattoos can be made by other means, both temporary and permanent. The English word is borrowed in the mid eighteenth century from the Tahitian tatau, of the same meaning, a word with cognates in many Polynesian languages. The proto-Polynesian is *tatou. The practice of tattooing is not unique to Polynesia, having been practiced by many cultures dating back into antiquity. But the practice of tattooing in present-day Western culture is a legacy of this eighteenth century cultural contact.
The first known appearance of tattoo in English is in Captain James Cook’s journal of his first circumnavigation aboard in the Endeavour. In his description of Tahiti, which he visited in July 1769, Cook writes:
Both sexes paint their Bodys, Tattow, as it is called in their Language. This is done by inlaying the Colour of Black under their skins, in such a manner as to be indelible. Some have ill- design'd figures of men, birds, or dogs; the women generally have this figure Z simply on every joint of their fingers and Toes; the men have it likewise, and both have other differant figures, such as Circles, Crescents, etc., which they have on their Arms and Legs; in short, they are so various in the application of these figures that both the quantity and Situation of them seem to depend intirely upon the humour of each individual, yet all agree in having their buttocks covered with a Deep black. Over this Most have Arches drawn one over another as high as their short ribs, which are near a Quarter of an inch broad. These Arches seem to be their great pride, as both men and Women show them with great pleasure.
Their method of Tattowing I shall now describe. The colour they use is lamp black, prepar'd from the Smoak of a Kind of Oily nut, used by them instead of Candles. The instrument for pricking it under the Skin is made of very thin flatt pieces of bone or Shell, from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a half broad, according to the purpose it is to be, used for, and about an inch and a half long. One end is cut into sharp teeth, and the other fastened to a handle. The teeth are dipped into black Liquor, and then drove, by quick, sharp blows struck upon the handle with a Stick for that purpose, into the skin so deep that every stroke is followed with a small quantity of Blood. The part so marked remains sore for some days before it heals. As this is a painful operation, especially the Tattowing their Buttocks, it is perform'd but once in their Life times; it is never done until they are 12 or 14 years of Age.
This use is as a verb, which is an English invention as the Tahitian word is a noun. The Tahitian verb is ta ‘tatau, literally to stamp/strike a tattoo.
But there is an older, etymologically unrelated sense of tattoo in English, that of a military signal ordering soldiers to retire to their quarters. This signal was originally a drumbeat and later and into the present day, a bugle call. This military sense comes from the Dutch taptoe, from tap (tap of a cask) + toe (shut). In short, taptoe was originally a last call in a tavern. But by the seventeenth century, the Dutch word could be used simply as a command to stop or cease, and it was also in military use as well.
Adoption of tattoo by the English military dates to at least the English Civil War. It’s recorded in the 21 April 1643 testimony of a Parliamentary officer in the garrison of the Bristol, which at the time was threatened by Royalist forces under the command of Prince Rupert. The testimony of Captain Jeremy Bucks reads, in part:
On the seventh of March I was sent from Colonell Fiennes and the Counsell of War in Bristoll, about ten of the clock at night, to the house of M. Robert Yeomans, there to apprehend him and the Conspirators, who as they said, they were informed they were to destroy the Guards, and so to give entrance unto Prince Rupert and his Forces then against the Town: I took 20. Muskettiers from the Bridge and went thither, and the first knock or suddenly after, M. Yeomans came to the door, and desired to know my businesse; I answered, It was to speak with the man of the house; He again desired to know my businesse, I answered again, He should know when I came in; He then said, The Taptow had beaten, and therefore I would not after that time of night enter his house; I told him, I would enter, and then called up the Muskettiers, who before stood silent, and called for something to break up the door, Yeomans then said, he would open it, but used many delayes; at length, I being urgent, he opened a little wide gate, and I entred and took him prisoner.
The tattoo spelling appears in the eighteenth century, although the taptow form continues into the nineteenth.
Cf. taps.
Sources:
American Heritage Dictionary, fifth edition, 2011, s.v. tattoo.
Cook, James. Captain Cook’s Journal During His First Voyage Round the World Made in H.M Bark “Endeavour” 1768–71. W.J.L. Wharton, ed. London: Elliot Stock, 1893, 93. HathiTrust Digital Archive.
Merriam-Webster.com, s.v. tattoo, n.1.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. tattoo, n.1, tattoo, n.2, tattoo, v.2.
The Severall Examinations and Confessions of the Treacherous Conspiratours Against the Citie of Bristoll. London: Edward Husbands, 1643, 6. Early English Books Online (EEBO).
Photo credit: Stuart Yeates, 2009. Photo taken in public place with the explicit permission of the subject. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.