tartan
noun
- Scottish cloth pattern, often representing a clan or other group
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈtɑːt(ə)n/ / /ˈtɑɹtn̩/ / [-ɾn̩]
adj
Etymology: The noun is an unadapted borrowing from Scots tartan, from Old Scots tartane, tertane, probably from Old French tertaine, tiretaine (“cloth of wool mixed with cotton or linen”), probably from tiret (“kind of precious cloth”) + -aine modelled after futaine (“woven cloth made from cotton mixed with linen or silk”). Tiret is derived from tire (“kind of silk cloth”), from Medieval Latin tyrium (“cloth dyed with Tyrian purple”), a noun use of Latin tyrium, an inflection of tyrius (“of Tyre, Tyrian”), from Latin Tyrus (“Phoenician city of Tyre (in modern Lebanon)”) (from Ancient Greek Τῠ́ρος (Tŭ́ros), from Phoenician 𐤑𐤓 (ṣr)) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives). Another suggestion is that the Scots noun is from Middle English tartaryn (“rich cloth (probably silk) imported from the East, probably from China through Tartary”), from Old French (drap) tartarin (literally “cloth of Tartary”), from Medieval Latin Tartarīnus (“of Tartary or the Tatars”), from Latin Tartarus, Tatarus (“Tatar person”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that tartarin referred to a more expensive fabric. Noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.2 (“type of fly used in fly fishing”) may refer to its use in Scotland: see the 1837 quotation. Etymology 1, noun sense 2.3 (“young person who is a member of a Protestant gang in Northern Ireland”) is from the fact that they were traditionally supporters of Rangers Football Club based in Glasgow, Scotland. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun, while the verb is also derived from the noun.
- Made of tartan (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1), or having a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles like a that of a tartan.
“Her tartan petticoat ſhe'll kilt, / An' durk an' piſtol at her belt, / She'll tak the ſtreets, / An' rin her vvhittle to the hilt, / I' th' firſt ſhe meets!”
“[M]y pupils leave off their thick shoes and tight old tartan pelisses, and wear silk stockings and muslin frocks, as fashionable baronets' daughters should.”
- Of or relating to Scotland, its culture, or people; Scottish.
name
Etymology: Borrowed from Hebrew תַּרְתָּן (tartān) (translated into English in versions of the Old Testament of the Bible: see the quotations), from the Assyrian dialect of Akkadian 𒌉𒋫𒉡 (tur-ta-nu).
- The commander-in-chief of ancient Assyria.
“And the king of Aſſyria ſent Tartan and Rabſaris, and Rabſhakeh, from Lachiſh to king Hezekiah, with a great hoſte againſt Jeruſalem: […]”
“In the yeere that Tartan came vnto Aſhdod (when Sargon the king of Aſſyria ſent him) and fought against Aſhdod, and tooke it: […]”
noun
Etymology: Borrowed from French tartane, from Italian tartana; further origin uncertain, said to be from Arabic طَرِيدَة (ṭarīda, “type of fast ship”) but according to the Oxford English Dictionary there is insufficient evidence for this.
- A type of one-masted vessel with a lateen sail and a foresail, used in the Mediterranean.
“[W]e met Captain VVright, vvho came thither the day before; and had taken a Spaniſh Tartan, vvherein vvere 30 men, all vvell armed: […] VVe that came over Land out of the South Seas being vveary of living among the French, deſired Captain VVright to fit up his Prize the Tartan, and make a Man of VVar of her for us, […]”
“Nearly the whole of his time, however, he informed Captain Servadac, had been spent upon the sea, his real business being that of a merchant trading at all the ports of the Mediterranean. A tartan, a small vessel of two hundred tons burden, conveyed his entire stock of merchandise, and, to say the truth, was a sort of floating emporium, conveying nearly every possible article of commerce, from a lucifer match to the radiant fabrics of Frankfort and Epinal.”
verb
Etymology: The noun is an unadapted borrowing from Scots tartan, from Old Scots tartane, tertane, probably from Old French tertaine, tiretaine (“cloth of wool mixed with cotton or linen”), probably from tiret (“kind of precious cloth”) + -aine modelled after futaine (“woven cloth made from cotton mixed with linen or silk”). Tiret is derived from tire (“kind of silk cloth”), from Medieval Latin tyrium (“cloth dyed with Tyrian purple”), a noun use of Latin tyrium, an inflection of tyrius (“of Tyre, Tyrian”), from Latin Tyrus (“Phoenician city of Tyre (in modern Lebanon)”) (from Ancient Greek Τῠ́ρος (Tŭ́ros), from Phoenician 𐤑𐤓 (ṣr)) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives). Another suggestion is that the Scots noun is from Middle English tartaryn (“rich cloth (probably silk) imported from the East, probably from China through Tartary”), from Old French (drap) tartarin (literally “cloth of Tartary”), from Medieval Latin Tartarīnus (“of Tartary or the Tatars”), from Latin Tartarus, Tatarus (“Tatar person”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that tartarin referred to a more expensive fabric. Noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.2 (“type of fly used in fly fishing”) may refer to its use in Scotland: see the 1837 quotation. Etymology 1, noun sense 2.3 (“young person who is a member of a Protestant gang in Northern Ireland”) is from the fact that they were traditionally supporters of Rangers Football Club based in Glasgow, Scotland. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun, while the verb is also derived from the noun.
- To clothe (someone) in tartan (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.2).
“That 42d tartan is Campbell tartan rests upon the fact that the Black Watch was officered by a large majority of Campbells at first. When I was first tartaned, more than fifty years ago, I was taken by John Campbell, piper, to the shop of his brother William, in Glasgow, to be tailored.”
“The Celtic Society of Edinburgh was founded in 1820, its members dining in kilts. In 1820–22, the novelist Walter Scott worked away at the tartaning of Scotland in the run-up to a landmark visit by George IV, when even the fat king would be wearing full Scottish tartan.”
- To apply a tartan pattern to (something).
“The unholy beast in the box was the most splendid and graceful specimen of the monitor lizard I have ever seen. […] Smooth, though scaly, and inky black, tartaned all over with transverse rows of bright yellow spots, with eyes that shone like wild-fire, and teeth like quartz, with his forked tongue continually flashing out from his bright-red mouth, he had a wild, weird loveliness that was most uncanny.”
“[W]hy shouldn't the waitresses in the dining room, each one of them already attired in a distinctive clan tartan, be required to carry a small card identifying the tartan for the convenience of diners who might want to purchase tartaned gifts after their meal?”
- To make (something) Scottish, or more Scottish; to tartanize.
“The premier [Angus Lewis Macdonald] was photographed repeatedly at the annual Gaelic Mod, and sitting at a loom in a display of Highland handicrafts in Scotland itself. The premier also focused his attention on the tartaning of the provincially owned Keltic Lodge.”
“Hence, Edinburgh's working class has conventionally been doubly excluded and marginalised. […] [S]econdly, within a nationalist paradigm, by the ‘tartaning up’ of that same city centre – the concomitant tourist culture of Scotland as a national heritage site. The Edinburgh of romantic or puritanical nationalism myth has no imaginative or social space for an urban working class.”