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."

Shires

The timeline on the history of ‘shires’ starts at 1066. There is a lot of history and not much consistency concerning the evolution of shires in Britain, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, who do it differently in each country.

I came away knowing that ‘shire’ morphed into sheriff, and Worcestershire sauce should be pronounced by the following rule -

Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far northeast of England, the word is pronounced /ʃaɪr/ (rhyming with "fire"). As a suffix in an English or Welsh place name, it is in most regions pronounced /-ʃər/ "shur", or sometimes /-ʃɪər/, a homophone of "sheer". Worcestershire (pronounced WOOS-tuhr-sheer) sauce was originally bottled in Worcester, England, in the 19th century by Lea & Perrins.

An article on the history of counties with lots of maps and a lot of not easily condensed

information about the layers of government which I think answers the question Tom asked can be found at -

-http://jonathan.rawle.org/hyperpedia/counties/history.php

From Wiki-

A shire is a traditional division found in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in Australia.

In Britain, "shire" is the original term for what is usually known as a county; the word county having been introduced at the Norman Conquest. The two are synonymous. Although in modern British usage counties are referred to as "shires" mainly in poetic contexts, terms such as Shire Hall remain common. Shire also remains a common part of many county names.

The first shires were created by the Anglo-Saxons in what is now central and southern England. The word is from Old English, scir, and appears to be allied to shear as it is a division of the land. The system was spread to most of the rest of England in tenth century.

The shire in early days was governed by an ealdorman and in the later Anglo-Saxon period by royal official known as a "shire reeve" or sheriff. The shires were divided into hundreds or wapentakes, although other less common sub-divisions existed.

The first shires of Scotland were created after the English model, possibly beginning in the tenth century. King David I more consistently created shires and appointed sheriffs across lowland Scotland. An alternative name for a shire was a "sheriffdom" until sheriff court reforms separated the two concepts. In Scotland the word "county" was not adopted for the shires. Although "county" appears in some texts, "shire" was the normal name until counties for statutory purposes were created in the nineteenth century.

Shire names in Britain and Ireland

"Shire" can also be used in a narrower sense, referring only to ancient counties ending in "shire". These counties are typically (though not always) named after their county town.

The suffix -shire is attached to most of the names of English, Scottish and Welsh counties. It tends not to be found in the names of shires which were pre-existing divisions. Essex, Kent and Sussex, for example, have never borne a -shire as each represents a former Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Similarly Cornwall was a Welsh kingdom before it became an English shire.

Sites for Sights

July 20 Scourie, Sutherland - http://www.scourie.co.uk/

July 21-22 Stromness, Ornkey - http://www.orkneyjar.com/orkney/stromness/

July23 Stonehaven,Aberdeenshire - http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/webcams/stonehaven.asp

July 24- 25 Kinlochleven, Inverness-shire - http://www.lochaber.com/kinlochleven/index.htm

July 26 Stirling, Stirlingshire -http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/areastir/index.html

July 27-28 Edinburgh - http://www.edinburgh.org/

July 29- 30 York, North Yorkshire - http://www.visityork.org/

July 31 Blenheim, Oxfordshire

August 1 Wells, Somerset - http://www.wells-uk.com/

August 2 -3 Mousehole, Cornwall - http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/Mousehole/

August 4 Salisbury, Wiltshire - http://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/salisbury/home

August 5 Portsmouth, Hampshire - http://www.portsmouth-guide.co.uk/

August 6- 10 London- http://www.visitlondon.com/ http://www.londontown.com/

July 18 Glendale, Isle of Skye

The name 'Glendale' is the anglicised version of its gaelic name, Gleann Dail, which means 'valley with level fields by a river'.

Wonderful maps, attractions, pictures and other information at

www.glendaleskye.com

Local recipes, the Glendale newsletter and other items of interest at

www.glendale-skye.info

Dulcie Spencer’s recipe sounds lovely-

Recipe for Tomorrow

1 tablespoon of kindness , 2 teaspoons full of forgiveness , 3 kg of thoughtfulness
Method
Whisk up some helpfulness and bake it up and then spread it between wars.
Dulcie Spencer

July 17 Plockton

Clearances, Controversies, Herring Migration and Hamish MacBeth Oh, My!

Although it may seem as if time has stood still, Plockton wasn't always like it is today. Originally called Am Ploc, the settlement was a crofting hamlet until the end of the 1700s. As in so many other parts of the Highlands this all changed when landowners found it was possible to make much more money from their estates by letting their land to sheep farmers: and to make room for the sheep they simply cleared the crofters from the land, people who in many cases had lived there for generations. Many had little choice but to emigrate, and Plockton soon became a port of embarkation for those displaced during the clearances.

The Highland Clearances form one of the most deeply emotive topics in Scottish history, and one of the most controversial. The term usually describes the process in which, between about 1750 and about 1880, large numbers of Scottish Highlanders and Islanders were displaced from the traditional lands their families had occupied for generations, ending up in marginally viable coastal settlements, as fodder for central Scotland's rapidly growing industries, or as emigrants. It is possible to read many different accounts of the Highland Clearances, and find within them nearly as many conflicting views about what happened, and, especially, why it happened and who was responsible. There are even widely different views of the numbers of people involved.

In the early 1800s the landlord, Sir Hugh Innes, decided he could increase the value of his estates further by giving tenants cleared from inland areas an option to emigration: to resettle in a new fishing port he developed under the name of "Plocktown". New streets of houses were built, many with small crofts, pieces of land that the residents could use to supplement the income they derived from fishing. This was the era of the "herring boom" and Plockton rapidly grew to accommodate over 500 people, many living two families to a cottage.

But the herring boom simply ended when the fish changed their migration patterns, and the area was severely affected by the potato famine of the late 1840s. Before long Plockton became known as Baile na Bochdainn, or "village of the poor". It saw a resurgence following the arrival of the railway in the 1890s, but large scale fishing never resumed.

Plockton today is a lively place. Its place on the tourist map was firmly established when, in the mid-1990s, the BBC chose to film a drama series called Hamish Macbeth here. Three series were made and tourists flocked to see its setting. Though the TV effect has diminished, summers remain very busy here.

For more information visit- http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/plockton/plockton/index.html

Scottish Gaelic

(Click the map to enlarge)

According to official statistics, the 477 Gaelic-only speakers recorded in 1971 had either become bilingual, or died during the following ten years: because the 1981 census recorded no Gaelic-only speakers left in Scotland. The 2001 Census recorded just under 60,000 people living in Scotland who could speak Gaelic, or 1.2% of the population, the lowest figure ever. The distribution of Gaelic-speakers within Scotland is shown on the map: with the proportion of people able to speak Gaelic increasing steadily as you progress west across the country and especially to the islands: with the highest density, at just under 75%, in northern Lewis.

Source- http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usscotfax/soc/gaelic.html

Scottish Naming Customs

"The general custom, to which there were some variations, was to name children as follows:-

The eldest son after the paternal grandfather
The second son after the maternal grandfather
The third son after the father
The eldest daughter after the maternal grandmother
The second daughter after the paternal grandmother
The third daughter after the mother

Younger children would be named after earlier forebears, but the pattern in their case was less settled."

("In search of Scottish Ancestry" by Gerald Hamilton-Edwards, Phillimore, 1983 Edition).

Scottish surnames occurring most often on the birth, death, and marriage registers in Scotland in 1995.

Rank Name Occurrence

1 Smith 2273

2 Brown 1659

3 Wilson 1539

4 Thomson 1373

5 Robertson 1370

6 Campbell 1361

7 Stewart 1278

8 Anderson 1187

9 MacDonald 980