Flag Tattoos Tattoo Designs, Tattoo Pictures Page 7

The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Samoan wordtatau, meaning "to strike". The Oxford English Dictionaryprovides the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. FromPolynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, and so on.) tatau. InMarquesan, tatu." Before the importation of thePolynesian word, the practice of tattooing had been described in the West aspainting, scarring or staining.The etymology of the physique modification term is not to be confused withthe origins of the word for the military drumbeat or performance — see military tattoo. In this case, theEnglish word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe.The very first written reference to the word tattoo (or tatau)seems in the journal of Joseph Banks (24 February 1743 – 19 June 1820),the naturalist aboard explorer James Cook's ship HMS Endeavour: "I shall nowmention the way they mark themselves indelibly, everysingle of them is so marked by their humour or disposition".[5] The word tattoowas brought to Europe by Cook, when he returned in 1769 from his first voyage to Tahiti and New Zealand. In his narrative of the voyage,he refers to an operation known as "tattaw".

Tattoo enthusiasts could refer to tattoos as "ink","pieces", "skin art", "tattoo art", "tats" or "work"; to the creators as "tattooartists", "tattooers" or "tattooists"; and to places where they work as "tattoo shops", "tattoostudios" or "tattoo parlors".Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of both standard and custom tattoo designs, such as Beyond Skin, at the Museumof Croydon. Copyrighted tattoo styles that are mass-created and sent to tattoo artists are known as"flash", a notable instance of industrial style.[8] Flashsheets are prominently displayed in a lot of tattoo parlorsfor the goal of supplyingboth inspiration and ready-made tattoopictures to customers.

The Japanese word irezumi implies "insertion of ink"and can mean tattoos utilizing tebori, thestandard Japanese handapproach, a Western-style machine or anystrategy of tattooing employing insertion of ink.The most widespread word employed for traditional Japanese tattoodesigns is horimono. Japanese might use the wordtattoo to imply non-Japanese styles of tattooing.