קעקע, as in כתובת קעקע.

Isnt it a type of karka?

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It comes from "Alta Kaka", a variant of the modern-day "Alter Kocker". In the days of yore, when an old person died, the mourners would get memorial tattoos so as to serve as a "place" for the deceased to live on through them. Thus, the tattoo was so to speak the "address" of the "Alta Kaka" - hence "K'soves Kaka".







Disclaimer: The above is a heaping load of BS and should be completely disregarded.

המילה קעקע מופיעה בתנ"ך בספר ויקרא יט,כח: "וּכְתֹבֶת קַעֲקַע לֹא תִתְּנוּ בָּכֶם". באנגלית מכונה כתובת הקעקע Tattoo, מילה שמקורה בטהיטי שבפולינזיה ומשמעותה "לסמן". גם בשפות רבות אחרות נגזרת המילה לכתובת קעקע מהמקור הפולינזי.

Clap clap. So you can use Wikipedia to tell us what we know already.

You asked "Where Does This Word Come From?" I answered.

Yes, I spent the time to look it up....and I found a source in wiki.
A little appreciation would be nice....Rather then your obnoxious negativity.

In most languages, and certainly in all western languages, the word "tattoo" or some variation thereof is used. This is a loan from the Samoan "Tatau". In Hawai'ian, the word for it is "Kakau" which is a cognate of "Tatau" (there is a t->k correlation between Samoan and Hawaiian similar to the ש->ת correlation between Lashon Hakodesh and Aramaic...)
This could be an argument for a single ancient human language.

I didn't ask "where is it located?" I know that. I asked "where does it come from?"
I you want appreciation, answer the question.


Interesting, but I was hoping for something a little more grounded in Semitic languages than speculation.
Still interesting.

They used to use dirt. Not ringing any bells?

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i was thinking more along the lines of george allen's "macaca."

aforementioned disclaimer applies

I seem to remember learning it means "scratch", but I have no sources.

I don't understand your question. It comes form the Torah, that is it's origin.


להשמיד להרוג ולאבד - בקש לקעקע ביצתן של ישראל

לקעקע = ארויסקראצן

mosheshmeal
.

I asked a friend who has access to resources that I don't, and who knows a lot about Hebrew etymology. This is what he replied:

"Klein says that it is "possibly formed through reduplication of base קוע ( = to dig deep, deepen)". That's what most of the sources I saw said. Ben-Yehuda says that root might also appear in קרקע, but no one else seems to agree."

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There, there.

Did they not use dirt?

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Explain?

I have a vague recollection from the last time I learned makkos (many years ago) that they used dirt for the tattoo. Or for some sort of medicine that left a mark. Am I way off?

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Ah, I didn't get what you meant. You meant that the pigment could have been derived from earth or clay, and that's how קעקע could have been derived from קרקע. Sounds plausible.

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