to mark the humanbody with indelible pigments. The word is Polynesian; itsfirst occurrence in English is in Cook's account of Tahiti.The Tahitian word is Tatau, which means tattoo markson the human skin, from Ta, which means a mark ordesign. (Littre.) The Maori verb, ta, means to cut,to tattoo, to strike. See Moko.
1773. `Hawkesworth's Voyages' (Cook's First Voyage; atTahiti, 1769), vol. ii. p. 191:
«They have a custom of staining their bodies . . . which theycall Tattowing. They prick the skin, so as just not tofetch blood, with a small instrument, something in the form ofa hoe. . . . The edge is cut into sharp teeth or points. . . they dip the teeth into a mixture of a kind of lamp-black. . . The teeth, thus prepared, are placed upon the skin, andthe handle to which they are fastened being struck by quicksmart blows, they pierce it, and at the same time carry intothe puncture the black composition, which leaves an indeliblestain.»
1777. Horace Walpole, `Letters,' vol. vi. p. 448:
«Since we will give ourselves such torrid airs, I wonder wedon't go stark and tattoo ourselves.»
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. ii.p. 109:
«A very famous artist in tatu came with the party, and was keptin constant and profitable employment. Everybody, from therenowned warrior to the girl of twelve years old, crowded to beornamented by the skilful chisel. . . . The instruments usedwere not of bone, as they used formerly to be; but a graduatedset of iron tools, fitted with handles like adzes, suppliedtheir place. . . . The staining liquid is made of charcoal.»
1847. A. Tennyson, `Princess,' canto ii. l. 105:
«. . . Then the monster, then the man;
Tattoo'd or woaded, winter-clad in skins,
Raw from the prime, and crushing down his mate.»
1859. A. S. Thomson, `Story of New Zealand,' vol. i. c. iv.p. 74:
«First among the New Zealand list of disfigurations istattooing, a Polynesian word signifying a repetition of taps,but which term is unknown in the language of the NewZealanders; moko being the general term for thetattooing on the face, and whakairo for that on thebody.» [But see Moko.]
1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 17:
«Lips no stain of tattoo had turned azure.»
Ibid. p. 104:
«A stick knobbed with a carved and tattoo'd wooden head.»
1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 3:
«Thy rugged skin is hideous with tattooing.»