More Than You Want to Know About the Etymology of 'Tattoo'

This entry is in response to a question from Tom and Jane about the word 'tattoo.' They saw a sign about pipe bands and tattoos. They wondered what the connection was between bagpipe bands and tattoos. I think the sign they saw in Halifax goes with the derivation from Dutch. Interesting that 'tattoo' is the second most misspelled word in Internet searches!

From New Oxford American Dictionary

tattoo 1 |taˈtoō|noun ( pl. -toos )an evening drum or bugle signal recalling soldiers to their quarters.• an entertainment consisting of music, marching, and the performance of displays and exercises by military personnel.• a rhythmic tapping or drumming.ORIGIN mid 17th cent. (originally as tap-too): from Dutch taptoe!, literally ‘close the tap (of the cask)!’

From the Online Etymology Dictionary

tattoo (1)

"signal," 1688, "signal calling soldiers or sailors to quarters at night," earlier tap-to (1644, in order of Col. Hutchinson to garrison of Nottingham), from Du.taptoe, from tap "faucet of a cask" (see tap (2)) + toe "shut." So called because police used to visit taverns in the evening to shut off the taps of casks. Transf. sense of "drumbeat" is recorded from 1755. Hence, Devil's tattoo "action of idly drumming fingers in irritation or impatience" (1803).

tattoo (2)

"mark the skin with pigment," 1769 (noun and ver, both first attested in writing of Capt. Cook), from a Polynesian noun (e.g. Tahitian and Samoan tatau,Marquesan tatu "puncture, mark made on skin").

According to http://www.skininktoday.com/Tattoo-Designs/History/Tattoo-Etymology.htm -

There are two schools of thought on the origin of the word "tattoo". One school of thought has it that the word comes from the Samoan and Tahitian word, "tatau" which means "to mark twice, with color." This comes from "ta" "ta" "u" - mark, mark, color. The Marquesan (related Polynesian culture to Samoa and Tahiti) word is "tatu" which means to mark and puncture skin.

Some people claim that the word comes from the Dutch word "taptoe" which means to signal, and came from tap-toe, "tap" a faucet, and shut, "toe".

However tattoo originated, it is one of most comonly misspelled words in the English language. Popular misspellings include "tatto," tatoo," "tato," and "tatu." It is infact the number two most misspelled word in Internet searches, with most common misspellings being "tatto," and "tatoo."