Etymology Dictionary

TAR,  a resinous substance of a dark colour, obtained from pine-trees.  (E.)   M.E. terre, Prompt. Parv.; spelt tarre, P. Plowman, C. x. 262.—A.S. teoru, tar; the dat. teorwe occurs in A.S. Leechdoms, ii. 132, l. 5; also spelt teru in a gloss (Bosworth); also tyrwa, Gen. vi. 14; Exod. ii. 3. + Du. teer. + Icel. tjara. + Dan. tiære. + Swed. tjär.   And cf. G. theer, prob. borrowed from Low G. tär or Du. teer.   We find also Irish tearr, prob. borrowed from E., as the word is certainly Teutonic.   β. We also find Icel. tyri, tyrfi, a resinous fir-tree; whence týrutré, tyrviðr, tyrvitré, all with the sense of tar-wood.'   Proved to be Teutonic by the cognate Lithuan. darwa, derwa, resinous wood, particularly the resinous parts of the fir-tree that easily burn (Nesselmann); and this is allied to Russ. drevo, a tree, derevo, a tree, wood, timber, W. derw, an oak-tree, and E. Tree, q.v.   See Fick, iii. 118; Curtius, i. 295.   γ. Thus the orig. sense was simply 'tree' or 'wood,' esp. resinous wood, as most in request for firing; hence the resin or tar itself.   2. Tar is also a sailor, as being supposed to be daubed with tar, though the word is really short for tarpaulin, used in the sense of sailor; see Tarpauling.   Der. tarr-y; also tar-pauling, q.v. [†]

ADDENDA

Also A.S. taru, tearo, tara; see A.S. Leechdoms, ii. 408.

2. a sailor; in Swift's Poems, To the Earl of Peterborow, st. 11.  It is simply short for Tarpauling, q.v.