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Nov 14, 2023

The Word ‘Tattoo’ in New York Times Ink

Advertisement Supported by Word Through The Times It has referred to body art,

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Word Through The Times

It has referred to body art, repetitive sound and last call.

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By Sarah Diamond

In Word Through The Times, we trace how one word or phrase has changed throughout the history of the newspaper.

In 1991, a 5,300-year-old Neolithic iceman, later nicknamed Ötzi, was found in the Ötztal Alps. Sixty-one markings covered his body; pigment, perhaps charcoal, had been rubbed into incisions. These markings are thought to be some of the oldest tattoos in the world. Scientists still debate why Ötzi was inked, but a leading theory is that the practice was therapeutic.

According to the Journal of Archaeological Science, tattooing has been practiced throughout human history. A New York Times article from 2000 attributes the origin of the word "tattoo" to traditional Polynesian markings known as "tatu" or "tatau." "Tatau," according to the National Park Service, was thought to resemble the tapping sounds the marking tool made.

"Tattoo" has other meanings. One definition is a drum or bugle call to command military personnel to their quarters at night. This meaning comes from the Dutch phrase "doe den tap toe" which means in English "close the tap." This was meant to signal bartenders to close the tap on the cask and for soldiers to go home. One of the word's first appearances in The Times came in 1860. The article recounted the "standing orders" of a military camp on Staten Island: "The ‘Tattoo’ will be beat at 11 o’clock P.M., when lights will be put out and no soldier is to be out of his tent or quarters without permission."

Similarly, "tattoo" can mean a constant rapping sound. In 1996, the reporter Robert D. McFadden wrote in a Metro article that the rain from a weekend storm in New York "hissed like surf against windows, beat a tattoo on rooftops and stripped the bronze and russet leaves of autumn."

Globally, attitudes about tattoos — as in, body art — remain divided. Though the norms are "slowly but steadily changing" in Japan, Hikari Hida wrote last year from Tokyo, some companies "expressly prohibit applicants who are inked." In 2021, Krista Langlois wrote in The Times about Indigenous tattoo artists who are reviving lost traditions. A tattooist of Inuit descent, for example, "hand pokes or stitches" traditional patterns onto the bodies of Inuit people, helping them "connect with their ancestors and reclaim a part of their culture."

The technology is also changing. The Times reported in 2020 that one company was creating paramedical tattoos to camouflage scars. A 2022 article explored tattoo preservation, like displaying a dead relative's tattooed skin as wall art. And there has been a rise in semi-permanent ink billed to disappear after 15 months — but in February, The Times spoke with recipients who were still stuck with unwanted designs nearly two years after they were inked.

Sarah Diamond manages production for narrated articles. She previously worked at National Geographic Studios.

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