▪ Cf. also the etymology of Engl
tannin ‘tannic acid, vegetable substance capable of converting animal hide to leather’, as given in etymonline.com :
1802, from Fr
tannin (
1798), from
tan ‘crushed oak bark containing tannin’, probably from a Celtic source (such as Breton
tann ‘oak tree’). The Engl vb.
to tan can be traced back, via late oEngl
tannian ‘to convert hide into leather (by steeping it in tannin)’, to mLat
tannare ‘to tan, dye a tawny colour’ (c
900), from Lat
tannum ‘crushed oak bark (used in tanning leather)’. The meaning ‘to make brown by exposure to the sun’ (as tanning does to hides) first recorded
1520 s; intransitive sense also from
1520 s. Of persons, not considered an attractive feature until 20c.; in Shakespeare, ‘to deprive of the freshness and beauty of youth’ (Sonnet CXV). As an adj. from
1620 s. Related: G
Tanne ‘fir tree’ (as in
Tannenbaum) might be a transferred meaning from the same Celtic source.
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