Tartary
English
Alternative forms
- Tatary (archaic)
Etymology
From Old French Tartaire, from Medieval Latin Tartarus (“Tartar, Mongol”), from Old Turkic 𐱃𐱃𐰺 (t¹t¹r¹) , spelling influenced by Latin Tartarus (“Hell (in Greek mythology)”), from Ancient Greek Τάρταρος (Tártaros).
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)təɹi
Proper noun
Tartary
- (archaic) The Eurasian Steppe.
- Obsolete form of Tartarus.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 102:
- An huge great Dragon horrible in ſight,
Bred in the loathly lakes of Tartary
Derived terms
- Chinese Tartary
- Crim Tartary, Krim Tartary
- Kuban Tartary
- lamb of Tartary
- Little Tartary
Related terms
Translations
historical term for the Eurasian steppes and Central Asia
References
- “Tartary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.