Tagged! I’ve really been noticing this word recently… and have been watching the
evolving use of both the base word ‘tag’ and ‘tagged’.
Only a few years ago, 'tag' used to be a word almost no
non-native speakers of English tended to even recognise, let alone actively
use. Now you can hardly even turn on the TV or radio without hearing it, and
can’t look at social media or many websites without coming across it. It’s
getting to be almost ubiquitous — tagging is everywhere!
— hash-tag …
— You’ve been tagged
in xxx’s photo…
Yet strangely, when I search Google for this — ‘tagged
definition’ was my search today at https://www.google.gr/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=tagged+definition&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=O-O9V47hL8jb8AfTsJnYCg — Google’s definition of ‘tag’ and of
‘tagged’ still doesn’t include any reference to online social media (today is
24.08.2016), although ‘hashtag’ is there when I search for it separately.
The Urban Dictionary gives a truly urban, though still not high-tech or digital, use for ‘tag’:
Top Definition:
Tag; a
personal signature, usually vandalism with spraypaint, but can be any graffiti.
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tag
Wikipedia gives a good long list of many of the current uses
of the word https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag, and I must say I was surprised
when I saw how many there are! A large
number of them are in Computing. This is perhaps not surprising as new technology
is one of the main areas to generate word-use change — I remember when a mouse
was only a little animal for instance… :)
We have tags in our clothes; we tag criminals instead of
putting them in prison; we tag along with someone when we’re not really invited
to be with them, or we’re not really part of the group; kids play tag in the
playground; and on and on… — masses of meanings and uses of this little word!
The origin of the word
‘tag’
tag (n.1) "small,
hanging piece from a garment," c. 1400, of uncertain origin but probably
from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian tagg "point, prong,
barb," Swedish tagg "prickle, thorn") and related to
Middle Low German tagge "branch, twig, spike"), from
Proto-Germanic *tag-. The sense development might be "point of
metal at the end of a cord, string, etc.," hence "part hanging
loose." Or perhaps ultimately from PIE *dek-, a root forming words
referring to fringe, horsetail, locks of hair" (see with tail
(n.1)).
"to furnish with a tag," late 14c. (implied
in tagged), from tag
(n.1). Meaning "go along as a follower" is from 1670s; sense of
"follow closely and persistently" is from 1884. Related: Tagging.
Verbal phrase tag along is first recorded 1900.
tag (v.2)
"a touch in the game of tag," 1878; in baseball, 1904, from tag
(n.2); the adjective in the pro-wrestling sense is recorded from 1955. Related:
Tagged; tagging.
tag (n.2)
"children's game," 1738 (in reference to "Queen Mary's
reign"), perhaps a variation of Scottish tig "touch, tap"
(1721), probably an alteration of Middle English tek "touch,
tap" (see tick
(n.2)). Baseball sense is from 1912.
Meaning "a label" is first recorded 1835;
sense of "automobile licence-plate" is recorded from 1935, originally
underworld slang. Meaning "an epithet, popular designation" is
recorded from 1961, hence slang verb meaning "write graffiti in public
places" (1990).
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