Tanning Leather Came Long Before Tanning Skin
A tanner treats hides to make leather. The sun-tanning sense of the word is a much later borrowing from the same idea of darkening.
A tanner converts raw hides into leather. The trade is old and the word older still: tanning used *tannin* from oak bark, and only in the nineteenth century did English apply *tan* to skin darkened by the sun, on the strength of the colour. Tanneries were pushed to the edges of towns, because the process smelled appalling — which is why the surname Tanner is so common.
- A leather worker. *The village tanner.*
- Tan — to treat hides. *Tanned hides.*
- Tan — sun-darkened skin. *A deep tan.*
- Tannery — the workshop. *An old tannery.*
- Tannin — the compound used. *Tannins in red wine.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | tan | Tan the hide. |
| Past | tanned | Well tanned leather. |
| Agent | tanner | A master tanner. |
| Place | tannery | Beside the tannery. |
| Substance | tannin | High in tannin. |
- The tanner worked with oak bark and lime.The trade.
- He came back with a heavy tan.Skin.
- The wine's tannins soften with age.The chemical sense.
Occupational surnames in English
- Tanner — one who made leather
- Smith — the commonest of all, a metalworker
- Cooper — a barrel maker
- Fletcher — an arrow maker
- Chandler — a candle maker, later a ship's supplier
Old English *tannian*, to convert hide into leather, from Medieval Latin *tannare*, probably from a Celtic word for oak. The sun-tanning sense is nineteenth-century.
Why is sunburnt skin said to be tanned?
Because of the colour. Tanned leather is brown, and English applied the word to darkened skin in the 1800s.
Why were tanneries on the edge of towns?
Because the process used urine, lime and decaying matter, and the smell was intolerable close to housing.