tat
安物 / タトゥー
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
tat には別系統の二つの口語的用法がある。主にイギリス英語では「質の悪い安物・がらくた」で、cheap tat や tourist tat が典型。一方、「タトゥー」は tattoo の短縮形で、get a tat のように使う。前者と後者は語源が同じだと思わず、周囲の語で判別する。
Treat tat as two short informal words that happen to have the same spelling. In British English, tat commonly means cheap, badly made, or worthless stuff; remember combinations such as cheap tat and tourist tat. In body-art contexts, tat is simply a shortened form of tattoo, as in get a new tat. The surrounding vocabulary gives the answer: shops, souvenirs, or clutter usually point to worthless goods, while skin, ink, artists, and designs point to a tattoo. Do not assume the two meanings share an origin; the tattoo sense is a transparent modern shortening, while the origin of the “cheap goods” sense is uncertain.
tat の類義語・関連語
tat の語源・成り立ち Etymology
「安物」の tat は19世紀英語の俗語で、語源は未詳とされることが多い。「タトゥー」の tat は tattoo の短縮で、tattoo はタヒチ語 tatau「印をつける」に由来するので、同じ綴りでも実は別系統。関連語は tatty、tattoo。
The two main noun senses have different histories. British informal tat, meaning cheap or worthless goods, is recorded from the nineteenth century, but its origin remains uncertain. Tat meaning a tattoo is a straightforward shortening of tattoo. English tattoo in the body-marking sense comes through Polynesian usage, ultimately from a word such as Tahitian tatau, referring to marking or striking a design on the skin.
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