The Etymology of Batik
Batik is one of the most successful Indonesian loanwords in European languages. In Javanese the technique is ancient and its name is part of a wider regional vocabulary of dyeing and patterning. The internal etymology is disputed but most often traced to a Javanese root tik (a small spot, drop, or dot) with a prefix that gives the sense of doing or making — together meaning roughly the dotted thing or dot-by-dot writing. This describes the actual technique well: a craftswoman applies hot wax to cloth using a small spouted tool called a canting, drop by drop, before dyeing the cloth. Wax-coated areas resist the dye, so removing the wax later reveals intricate patterns. Dutch traders in the East Indies encountered batik in the 17th century and brought both the cloth and the word back to the Netherlands. English picked up batik from Dutch around 1880, when Javanese textiles became fashionable in European craft and design circles. UNESCO inscribed Indonesian batik as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009.