Statue of Liberty Tattoos Designs, Ideas and Meaning Tattoos For You

The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Samoan word tatau, meaning "to strike". The Oxford English Dictionary offers the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. From Polynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, and so forth.) tatau. In Marquesan, tatu." Just before the importation of the Polynesian word, the practice of tattooing had been described in the West as painting, scarring or staining.The etymology of the body modification term is not to be confused with the origins of the word for the military drumbeat or functionality — see military tattoo. In this case, the English word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe.The initial written reference to the word tattoo (or tatau) appears in the journal of Joseph Banks (24 February 1743 – 19 June 1820), the naturalist aboard explorer James Cook's ship HMS Endeavour: "I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each and every of them is so marked by their humour or disposition".[5] The word tattoo was brought to Europe by Cook, when he returned in 1769 from his 1st voyage to Tahiti and New Zealand. In his narrative of the voyage, he refers to an operation referred to as "tattaw".

Tattoo enthusiasts may refer to tattoos as "ink", "pieces", "skin art", "tattoo art", "tats" or "work"; to the creators as "tattoo artists", "tattooers" or "tattooists"; and to locations exactly where they function as "tattoo shops", "tattoo studios" or "tattoo parlors".Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of both standard and custom tattoo designs, such as Beyond Skin, at the Museum of Croydon. Copyrighted tattoo designs that are mass-made and sent to tattoo artists are recognized as "flash", a notable instance of industrial design.[8] Flash sheets are prominently displayed in many tattoo parlors for the goal of providing both inspiration and ready-made tattoo photos to clients.

The Japanese word irezumi indicates "insertion of ink" and can mean tattoos employing tebori, the conventional Japanese hand approach, a Western-style machine or any technique of tattooing utilizing insertion of ink. The most typical word employed for conventional Japanese tattoo designs is horimono. Japanese could use the word tattoo to imply non-Japanese types of tattooing.