tartan
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɑːt(ə)n/
ipa: /ˈtɑɹtn̩/
ipa: [-ɾn̩]
ipa: /ˈtɑɹt(ə)n/
ipa: /ˈtæɹ-/
homophone: Tartan
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tən
Forms: form: tartans
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) or 𐤑𐤅𐤓 (ṣwr)) + -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 sense 2.2 (“type of fly used in fly fishing”) may refer to its use in Scotland: see the 1837 quotation. 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.
Senses: examples: text: Her hands trembled […] as she adjusted the scarlet tartan screen or muffler made of plaid, which the Scottish women wore, much in the fashion of the black silk veils still a part of female dress in the Netherlands.
ref: 1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter II, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, pages 48–49:
text: The country which lay just above this pass was now the theatre of a war such as the Highlands had not often witnessed. Men wearing the same tartan, and attached to the same lord, were arrayed against each other.
ref: 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 354:
synonyms: plaid
Scotch plaid
coordinate_terms: flannel
glosses: Woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders, now with different clans (though this only dates from the late 18th century) and some Scottish families and institutions having their own patterns; (countable) a particular type of such fabric.
synonyms: plaid
Scotch plaid
coordinate_terms: flannel
glosses: Woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders, now with different clans (though this only dates from the late 18th century) and some Scottish families and institutions having their own patterns; (countable) a particular type of such fabric.
A pattern used on such fabric.
examples: text: Dovvn flovv'd her robe, a tartan ſheen, / Till half a leg vvas ſcrimply ſeen; […]
ref: 1786, Robert Burns, “The Vision”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, duan first, page 142:
synonyms: plaid
Scotch plaid
coordinate_terms: flannel
glosses: Woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders, now with different clans (though this only dates from the late 18th century) and some Scottish families and institutions having their own patterns; (countable) a particular type of such fabric.
Clothing made from this fabric.
glosses: An individual who wears tartan (sense 1.2); specifically, a Scottish Highlander, or a Scottish person (chiefly a Scotsman) in general.
examples: text: What is called the tartan-fly kills well in the Highlands at the clearing of the water. The tail must be yellow, mixed with a little red; and tipt with silver-thread; the body must be of five or six different colours, yellow, blue, orange, green, red, and black; the colours must join; […]
ref: 1837, John Kirkbride, “Salmon-fishing”, in The Northern Angler; or, Fly-fisher’s Companion, Carlisle, Cumbria: C[harles] Thurnam; London: Edwards, […]; [Charles] Tilt, […], →OCLC, page 73:
topics: fishing
hobbies
lifestyle
glosses: A type of fly used in fly fishing, often to catch salmon.
examples: text: The Shankill was a tough district all right. It was really hard-line Protestant and most of the kids were in tough Prod gangs, like the Tartans.
ref: 1977, Peter Carter, chapter 3, in Under Goliath, London: Puffin Books in association with Oxford University Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 15:
glosses: A young person who is a member of a Protestant gang in Northern Ireland.
examples: text: Sir Colin [Campbell] called to Colonel [John Frederick] Ewart, 'Ewart, bring on the tartan!'; his bugler sounded the advance, and the seven companies of the Ninety-Third [(Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot] dashed from behind the bank.
ref: 1895, Archibald Forbes, “The Indian Mutiny—Organisation—Relief of Lucknow—Defeat of Gwalior Contingent”, in Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 127:
glosses: Preceded by the: a group of people customarily wearing tartan; Scottish Highlanders or Scottish people collectively; also, the soldiers of a Scottish Highland regiment collectively.
examples: text: Bob Hayes ran a world record 9.1 for 100 y[ards] on a Tartan-surface track in St. Louis in 1963, and Tartan tracks (manufactured by 3M) were installed for the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1967, and for the Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968.
ref: 2012, Peter Matthews, “All-weather tracks”, in Historical Dictionary of Track and Field (Historical Dictionaries of Sports), Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 23:
text: Running tracks are also known as tartan tracks. One lap of a tartan track is usually 400 metres, so it is easy to keep track of your running performance.
ref: 2024, Regina Toedter, “Running Around”, in Fun Running, Norderstedt, Schleswig-Holstein: Books on Demand, →ISBN, page 55:
glosses: Originally a trade name in the form Tartan: a synthetic resin used for surfacing ramps, running tracks, etc.
examples: text: But of oatmeal we have tartan—tartan purry it was sometimes called, and probably therefore was a partially French invention—a pudding made chiefly of chopped kale and oatmeal; […]
ref: 1890 June 14, “In Praise of the Horn Spoon”, in The Scots Observer: An Imperial Review, volume IV, number 82, Edinburgh; London: […] T[homas] & A[rchibald David] Constable, […], at the Edinburgh University Press [for] John Douglas, […], →OCLC, page 92:
glosses: Ellipsis of tartan-purry (“a porridge made from cabbage mixed with oatmeal”).
Derived terms: word: tartana
word: tartanization
word: tartanize
word: tartanry
word: tartans
Related terms: tartan-purry