Question to Polynesian expert

[Waruno Mahdi]

Hi everybody,

perhaps somebody could help answer Greg Ralph's qestion he sent me but
which I couldn't answer off hand myself (please reply directly to Greg):

> A friend of mine is enrolling in a PhD at RMIT in Melbourne,
> she is investigating a number of issues relating to
> modern fashion and design.  One of the things she is looking
> at is the revival of tattooing.  Talking to her last night
> I realised that although the English word is generally
> supposed to be a loan from a Tahitian or Marquesan "tatau",
> I was not sure whether it was common Polynesian, or not,
> and indeed whether there was a PAN form reconstructed.

I only knew of *beTik .....

Regards to all,

Waruno

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Waruno Mahdi                  tel:   +49 30 8413-5411
Faradayweg 4-6                fax:   +49 30 8413-3155
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Germany                       WWW:   http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/~wm/
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