An Attempt To Date
the Tartars
G.D.O'Bradovich III
July 29, 2015
Courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary: What did the English known about the Tartars and when did they know it? Citations after the year 1801 are omitted.
Forms:
Also 15 pl. Tartaries, 16, 18 Tâtar, Tahtar.
Etymology:
< French Tartare (Old French also Tartaire , 13th cent.), or
< medieval Latin Tartarus , plural Tartari
ethnic name; in Spanish Tartaro , Portuguese Tartaro , Italian Tartaro ; Dutch Tartaar , Tarter , German, Danish Tartar , Swedish Tartar , Tartarer ; Polish Tatar , Turkish, Persian Tātār .
In Old French more usually Tartarin , medieval Latin Tartarīnus , tartarinn.1; compare Russian Tatarinu.
The original name (by which the people in question either called themselves or were designated by their neighbours) is generally held to have been, as in Persian, etc., Tātār , as to the language and meaning of which various conjectures have been put forth; but in Western Europe, they appear from the first as Tartari , Tartares , or Tartars , their name being apparently associated with Tartarus , hell.
See the saying attributed by many historians to St. Louis of France a1270, in Littré, s.v. Tartare, and a translation in quot. 18422 at sense A. 1. The form Tâtar and its derivatives are now often used in ethnological works in sense A. 1, but the long-established Tartar is always used in the derived senses, and is also held by some to have been the original name: see quot. 1885 at sense A. 1, and its context.
A. n.2
1. A native inhabitant of the region of central Asia extending eastward from the Caspian Sea, and formerly known as Independent and Chinese Tartary. First known in the West as applied to the mingled host of Mongols, Tartars, Turks, etc., which under the leadership of Jenghiz Khan (1202–1227) overran and devastated much of Asia and Eastern Europe; hence vaguely applied to the descendants of these now dwelling in Asia or Europe; more strictly and ethnologically, to any member of the Tâtar or Turkic branch of the Ural-Altaic or Turanian family, embracing the Turks, Cossacks, and Kirghiz Tartars. (In all these uses, but esp. the last, now often written Tatar, Tâtar.)
c1386 Chaucer Squire's Tale 20
This noble kyng this Tartre, Cambynskan.
c1386 Chaucer Squire's Tale 258
This Tartre kyng.
1474 Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iv. iii. 170
Therfore the tartaris haue their wyues in to the felde with hem.
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. ccxxiii. 363
The dealyng of the turkes and tartaries with ye portes and passages of the kynges, soudans and miscreantes.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iii. x. 86
Moores, Indians, or Tartares.
1588 R. Parke tr. J. G. de Mendoza Hist. Kingdome of China 18
It [the great wall] was for his defence against the Tartaries, with whome he had warres.
1589 C. Hall in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 621
They be like to Tartars, with long blacke haire, broad faces, and flatte noses.
1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 101
Looke how I goe. Swifter then arrow, from the Tartars bowe.
a1613 E. Brerewood Enq. Langs. & Relig. (1614) xiii. 94
It is alleaged that the word Tatari, or Totari, (for so indeed they are rightly called, as learned men obserue, and not Tartari) signifieth in the Syriaque and Hebrew tongues, a Residue or Remainder such as these Tartars are supposed to bee of the Ten Tribes.
1745 P. Thomas True Jrnl. Voy. South-Seas 241
Since the Tartars have been Emperors of China, the Lamas have succeeded the Chinese Bonzes in the Direction of Religious Affairs.
At least as early as 1613, the Tartars are thought to be the lost ten tribes of Israel.
2. Transferred uses.
a. A military valet. [So in French.]
1747 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 570/2, 13,421
Convents of monks..which may be called the Field regiments, and, together with the brother servitors, invalids, tartars and scullions, may amount to 160,000.
†b. An old cant name for a strolling vagabond, a thief, a beggar. Cf. Bohemian n., gipsy n., Tartarian n. b. Obs.
1602 Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor iv. v. 18
Here is a Bohemian tartar bully, tarries the comming downe of the fat woman: Let her descend.
1697 J. Vanbrugh Relapse iv. 84
Here, pursue this Tartar, bring him back.
c. As an opprobrious appellation.
1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 264
Thy loue? Out tawny Tartar, out.
3. fig.
a. A person supposed to resemble a Tartar in disposition; a rough and violent or irritable and intractable person.
1669 Dryden Wild Gallant ii. i. 19,
I never knew your Grandmother was a Scotch woman: is she not a Tartar too.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 12
He is generally a tartar at bottom; a sharper, a spy, or a lunatic.
1778 F. Burney Let. Aug. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 89
They will little think what a Tartar you carry to them!
b. slang. One hard to beat or surpass in skill, an adept, a ‘champion’. (Cf. slang use of ‘bully’.)
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (at cited word),
He is quite a tartar at cricket, or billiards.
4. Phrase: to catch a Tartar : to get hold of one who can neither be controlled nor got quit of; to tackle one who unexpectedly proves to be too formidable. Also in allusive expressions.
1674 S. Butler Hudibras (new ed.) i. iii. 175
Now thou hast got me for a Tartar, To make m 'gainst my will take quarter.
1680 Dryden Kind Keeper v. i. 62
What a Tartar have I caught!
1690 J. Mackenzie Siege London-derry 39/2
As it happily fell out, they Catcht a Tartar.
1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 96,
I rather hug'd my self that I had let my Tartar go.
1720 D. Defoe Capt. Singleton 281
Tell him, if he try, he may catch a Tartar.
1725 New Canting Dict. (at cited word),
To catch a Tartar, is said, among the Canting Varlets, when a Rogue attacks one that he thinks a Passenger, but proves to be of this Class.., who, in his Turn,..robs,..and binds him.
5. (absol. use of B.) The language of the Tartars.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. i. i. §3. 3
The European Tartar, or Scythian, from which some conceive our Irish to have had its original.
In 1668, some people think the Irish are descended from the Tartars.
B. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to the people referred to in sense A. 1, or their country. Also noting animals, plants, etc., belonging to Tartary. Tartar bread n. see Tartarian n. b.
1731 Hist. Litteraria III. 250
He settles wherever he comes, and like a Tartar-Hord, never quits the Ground while there is a bit of green Herbage left.
† Tartaˈresque adj. Obs. rare Tartar (language)
1699 P. Gordon Geogr. Anatomized (ed. 2) ii. ii. 240
The Language us'd by the Asiatick Tartars, is not much different from the Tartaresque, spoken by those of Crim Tartary..and both have a great Affinity with the Turkish.
Asian and Crim branches of Tartar are close to the Turkish Tartar.
The citations in chronological order.
1386c This noble kyng this Tartre, Cambynskan.
1386c This Tartre kyng.
1474 (1883) Therfore the tartaris haue their wyues ...
1525 The dealyng of the turkes and tartaries with...
1585 Moores, Indians, or Tartares.
1588 ... against the Tartaries, with whome he had warres.
1589 They be like to Tartars, with long blacke haire...
1600 ... from the Tartars bowe.
1600 Thy loue? Out tawny Tartar, out.
1602 Here is a Bohemian tartar bully, ...
1613a (1614) ... Tatari, or Totari, ..., Tartari)... these Tartars ...
1668 The European Tartar, or Scythian, ...
1669 ... is she not a Tartar too.
1674 Now thou hast got me for a Tartar, ...
1680 What a Tartar have I caught!
1690 As it happily fell out, they Catcht a Tartar.
1697 Here, pursue this Tartar, bring him back.
1699 ... Asiatick Tartars,... Tartaresque, ... Crim Tartary...
1700 ... that I had let my Tartar go.
1720 Tell him, if he try, he may catch a Tartar.
1725 To catch a Tartar, is said, among the Canting Varlets...
1731 He settles wherever he comes, and like a Tartar-Hord, never quits the ...
1745 Since the Tartars have been Emperors of China...
1747 ... invalids, tartars and scullions, may amount to 160,000.
1771 He is generally a tartar at bottom; a sharper, a spy, or a lunatic.
1778 (1994) ... what a Tartar you carry to them!
1785 He is quite a tartar at cricket, or billiards.
Forms:
Also 15 pl. Tartaries, 16, 18 Tâtar, Tahtar.
Etymology:
< French Tartare (Old French also Tartaire , 13th cent.), or
< medieval Latin Tartarus , plural Tartari
ethnic name; in Spanish Tartaro , Portuguese Tartaro , Italian Tartaro ; Dutch Tartaar , Tarter , German, Danish Tartar , Swedish Tartar , Tartarer ; Polish Tatar , Turkish, Persian Tātār .
In Old French more usually Tartarin , medieval Latin Tartarīnus , tartarinn.1; compare Russian Tatarinu.
The original name (by which the people in question either called themselves or were designated by their neighbours) is generally held to have been, as in Persian, etc., Tātār , as to the language and meaning of which various conjectures have been put forth; but in Western Europe, they appear from the first as Tartari , Tartares , or Tartars , their name being apparently associated with Tartarus , hell.
See the saying attributed by many historians to St. Louis of France a1270, in Littré, s.v. Tartare, and a translation in quot. 18422 at sense A. 1. The form Tâtar and its derivatives are now often used in ethnological works in sense A. 1, but the long-established Tartar is always used in the derived senses, and is also held by some to have been the original name: see quot. 1885 at sense A. 1, and its context.
A. n.2
1. A native inhabitant of the region of central Asia extending eastward from the Caspian Sea, and formerly known as Independent and Chinese Tartary. First known in the West as applied to the mingled host of Mongols, Tartars, Turks, etc., which under the leadership of Jenghiz Khan (1202–1227) overran and devastated much of Asia and Eastern Europe; hence vaguely applied to the descendants of these now dwelling in Asia or Europe; more strictly and ethnologically, to any member of the Tâtar or Turkic branch of the Ural-Altaic or Turanian family, embracing the Turks, Cossacks, and Kirghiz Tartars. (In all these uses, but esp. the last, now often written Tatar, Tâtar.)
c1386 Chaucer Squire's Tale 20
This noble kyng this Tartre, Cambynskan.
c1386 Chaucer Squire's Tale 258
This Tartre kyng.
1474 Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iv. iii. 170
Therfore the tartaris haue their wyues in to the felde with hem.
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. ccxxiii. 363
The dealyng of the turkes and tartaries with ye portes and passages of the kynges, soudans and miscreantes.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iii. x. 86
Moores, Indians, or Tartares.
1588 R. Parke tr. J. G. de Mendoza Hist. Kingdome of China 18
It [the great wall] was for his defence against the Tartaries, with whome he had warres.
1589 C. Hall in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 621
They be like to Tartars, with long blacke haire, broad faces, and flatte noses.
1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 101
Looke how I goe. Swifter then arrow, from the Tartars bowe.
a1613 E. Brerewood Enq. Langs. & Relig. (1614) xiii. 94
It is alleaged that the word Tatari, or Totari, (for so indeed they are rightly called, as learned men obserue, and not Tartari) signifieth in the Syriaque and Hebrew tongues, a Residue or Remainder such as these Tartars are supposed to bee of the Ten Tribes.
1745 P. Thomas True Jrnl. Voy. South-Seas 241
Since the Tartars have been Emperors of China, the Lamas have succeeded the Chinese Bonzes in the Direction of Religious Affairs.
At least as early as 1613, the Tartars are thought to be the lost ten tribes of Israel.
2. Transferred uses.
a. A military valet. [So in French.]
1747 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 570/2, 13,421
Convents of monks..which may be called the Field regiments, and, together with the brother servitors, invalids, tartars and scullions, may amount to 160,000.
†b. An old cant name for a strolling vagabond, a thief, a beggar. Cf. Bohemian n., gipsy n., Tartarian n. b. Obs.
1602 Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor iv. v. 18
Here is a Bohemian tartar bully, tarries the comming downe of the fat woman: Let her descend.
1697 J. Vanbrugh Relapse iv. 84
Here, pursue this Tartar, bring him back.
c. As an opprobrious appellation.
1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 264
Thy loue? Out tawny Tartar, out.
3. fig.
a. A person supposed to resemble a Tartar in disposition; a rough and violent or irritable and intractable person.
1669 Dryden Wild Gallant ii. i. 19,
I never knew your Grandmother was a Scotch woman: is she not a Tartar too.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 12
He is generally a tartar at bottom; a sharper, a spy, or a lunatic.
1778 F. Burney Let. Aug. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 89
They will little think what a Tartar you carry to them!
b. slang. One hard to beat or surpass in skill, an adept, a ‘champion’. (Cf. slang use of ‘bully’.)
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (at cited word),
He is quite a tartar at cricket, or billiards.
4. Phrase: to catch a Tartar : to get hold of one who can neither be controlled nor got quit of; to tackle one who unexpectedly proves to be too formidable. Also in allusive expressions.
1674 S. Butler Hudibras (new ed.) i. iii. 175
Now thou hast got me for a Tartar, To make m 'gainst my will take quarter.
1680 Dryden Kind Keeper v. i. 62
What a Tartar have I caught!
1690 J. Mackenzie Siege London-derry 39/2
As it happily fell out, they Catcht a Tartar.
1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 96,
I rather hug'd my self that I had let my Tartar go.
1720 D. Defoe Capt. Singleton 281
Tell him, if he try, he may catch a Tartar.
1725 New Canting Dict. (at cited word),
To catch a Tartar, is said, among the Canting Varlets, when a Rogue attacks one that he thinks a Passenger, but proves to be of this Class.., who, in his Turn,..robs,..and binds him.
5. (absol. use of B.) The language of the Tartars.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. i. i. §3. 3
The European Tartar, or Scythian, from which some conceive our Irish to have had its original.
In 1668, some people think the Irish are descended from the Tartars.
B. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to the people referred to in sense A. 1, or their country. Also noting animals, plants, etc., belonging to Tartary. Tartar bread n. see Tartarian n. b.
1731 Hist. Litteraria III. 250
He settles wherever he comes, and like a Tartar-Hord, never quits the Ground while there is a bit of green Herbage left.
† Tartaˈresque adj. Obs. rare Tartar (language)
1699 P. Gordon Geogr. Anatomized (ed. 2) ii. ii. 240
The Language us'd by the Asiatick Tartars, is not much different from the Tartaresque, spoken by those of Crim Tartary..and both have a great Affinity with the Turkish.
Asian and Crim branches of Tartar are close to the Turkish Tartar.
The citations in chronological order.
1386c This noble kyng this Tartre, Cambynskan.
1386c This Tartre kyng.
1474 (1883) Therfore the tartaris haue their wyues ...
1525 The dealyng of the turkes and tartaries with...
1585 Moores, Indians, or Tartares.
1588 ... against the Tartaries, with whome he had warres.
1589 They be like to Tartars, with long blacke haire...
1600 ... from the Tartars bowe.
1600 Thy loue? Out tawny Tartar, out.
1602 Here is a Bohemian tartar bully, ...
1613a (1614) ... Tatari, or Totari, ..., Tartari)... these Tartars ...
1668 The European Tartar, or Scythian, ...
1669 ... is she not a Tartar too.
1674 Now thou hast got me for a Tartar, ...
1680 What a Tartar have I caught!
1690 As it happily fell out, they Catcht a Tartar.
1697 Here, pursue this Tartar, bring him back.
1699 ... Asiatick Tartars,... Tartaresque, ... Crim Tartary...
1700 ... that I had let my Tartar go.
1720 Tell him, if he try, he may catch a Tartar.
1725 To catch a Tartar, is said, among the Canting Varlets...
1731 He settles wherever he comes, and like a Tartar-Hord, never quits the ...
1745 Since the Tartars have been Emperors of China...
1747 ... invalids, tartars and scullions, may amount to 160,000.
1771 He is generally a tartar at bottom; a sharper, a spy, or a lunatic.
1778 (1994) ... what a Tartar you carry to them!
1785 He is quite a tartar at cricket, or billiards.