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Origin and history of clash

clash(v.)

c. 1500, "to make a loud, sharp sound," of imitative origin, or a blend of clap and crash. Compare Dutch kletsen "splash, clash," German klatschen, Danish klaske "clash, knock about." Figurative sense, in reference to non-physical strife or battle, is first attested 1620s. Of things, "to come into collision," from 1650s; of colors, "to go badly together," by 1867. Related: Clashed; clashing.

clash(n.)

1510s, "sharp, loud noise of collision," from clash (v.). Especially of the noise of conflicting metal weapons. Meaning "hostile encounter" is from 1640s; meaning "conflict of opinions, etc." is from 1781.

also from 1510s

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jar
1520s, "to make a brief, harsh, grating sound," often in reference to bird screeches; the word often is said to be echoic or imitative; compare jargon (n.), jay (n.), garrulous. Figurative sense of "have an unpleasant effect on" is from 1530s; that of "cause to vibrate or shake"
friction
1560s, "a chafing, rubbing," from French friction (16c.) and directly from Latin frictionem (nominative frictio) "a rubbing, rubbing down," noun of action from past-participle stem of fricare "to rub, rub down," which is of uncertain origin. Watkins suggests possibly from PIE roo
crash
late 14c., crasschen "break in pieces; make a loud, clattering sound;" probably imitative. Meaning "break into a party, etc." is 1922. Slang meaning "to sleep" dates from 1943; especially from 1965. Of destructive aircraft landings, 1910 (intransitive), 1915 (transitive). Computi
concurrence
concurrentia "a running together," from concurrens, present participle of concurrere "to run together, assemble hurriedly; clash...
concurrent
from Latin concurrentem (nominative concurrens), present participle of concurrere "to run together, assemble hurriedly; clash...
concourse
directly from Latin concursus "a running together," from past participle of concurrere "to run together, assemble hurriedly; clash...
its
The neuter genitive pronoun in Middle English was his, but the clash between grammatical gender and sexual gender, or else...
fight
Old English feohtan "to combat, contend with weapons, strive; attack; gain by fighting, win" (intransitive; class III strong verb; past tense feaht, past participle fohten), from Proto-Germanic *fe(u)hta (source also of Old High German fehtan, German fechten, Middle Dutch and Dut
noise
c. 1200, "sound of a musical instrument;" mid-13c., "loud speech, outcry, clamor, shouting;" c. 1300, "a sound of any kind from any source," especially a loud and disagreeable sound, from Old French noise "din, disturbance, uproar, brawl" (11c., in modern French only in phrase ch
contretemps
1680s, "a blunder in fencing," from French contre-temps "motion out of time, unfortunate accident, bad times" (16c.), from contre, an occasional, obsolete variant of contra (prep.) "against" (from Latin contra "against;" see contra (prep., adv.)) + tempus "time" (see temporal). M

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