tartan
Part of speech: adj
verb
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: more tartan
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most tartan
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: tartans
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: tartaning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: tartaned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: tartaned
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
In the second row of the cavalcade were Francie, Fanny's god-daughter, now thirteen years old and already elegant in long frilled pantalettes, tartan skirts, and a leghorn hat with streamers, […]
gloss: Of or relating to Scotland, its culture, or people; Scottish.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
humorous
sometimes
gloss: To clothe (someone) in tartan (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.2).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
Grandpa, tartaned to the max, larger than life, meekly trotted back to the car to let Grandma's familiar [a cat] out.
When they entered the kitchen, Craig, who loved plaids and was wearing a plaid shirt, was amazed to find his host tartaned out in a plaid pattern that was repeated from head to foot: […]
gloss: To apply a tartan pattern to (something).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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?
gloss: To make (something) Scottish, or more Scottish; to tartanize.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: 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.
Derived words: Tartan Army
tartan noir
tartan tax
Tartan Tory
tartaned
Translations: