Tartan evolving into plaid

[Bugbear]

I just happen to have a link, ThistleDown, because I was slightly involved with the discussion.
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-banned-60734/

Hope that makes things a little easier.

[ThistleDown]

Thanks, Ted

[Slowburn]

Getting caught up and caught up fun to say two things at once. Starting to connect the dots, thanks for the link to the previous discusion very informative. It mostly seems a game of linguistics and lexicon of the era and simple mistakes of translation or just assuming things to be there that are just not supportable with better source material.
Could it be that in haste to ban highland dress they wrongly lumped things to gether and purpousely left it ambiguous to allow for greater persicusion of the highland man. This to include plaids (refering to the cloth) and coloured cloths such as tartan patterns.

[Morris at Heathfield]

Neither "tartan" nor "plaid" originally meant the thing they have come to mean on opposite sides of the Atlantic. "Plaid", as already mentioned, originally referred to an article of clothing, while "tartan" originally referred to a type of cloth, not the design woven into it. Another word, once commonly used in English to refer to the type of pattern, was "check". And then there's a whole host of near-synonyms, such as "striped", "variegated", and "parti-coloured".

My general impression is that, as late as the mid-18th century, there was still no standard English term to refer to the type of pattern we now call "tartan". All of the other words were used interchangeably, including "plaid". I wish I could give the reference off the top of my head, but I'm quite certain I've read a late 17th-century British source that used the word "plaid" unambiguously in reference to the woven pattern.

[figheadair]

I've read a late 17th-century British source that used the word "plaid" unambiguously in reference to the woven pattern.

Can't lay my hands on that although I think I know the one you mean. McClintock's Old Irish and Highland Dress is a good reference source, but here's a section from the Act of Proscription:

'... and that no tartan, or partly-coloured plaid or stuff shall be used for great coats, or for upper coats; ...' Of course the writers might have been referring to the re-use of the garment rather than the pattern.