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Origin and history of tangential

tangential(adj.)

1620s, "of, pertaining to, or of the nature of, a tangent;" see tangent (adj.) + -ial. The figurative sense of "divergent, erratic" is from 1787; that of "slightly connected" to the subject or matter at hand is by 1825. Related: Tangentially.

also from 1620s

Entries linking to tangential

tangent(adj.)

1590s, in geometry, of a line, "touching, meeting at a point without intersecting," from Latin tangentem (nominative tangens), present participle of tangere "to touch" (from PIE root *tag- "to touch, handle;" the Latin verb also is in tactile, contact, etc.).

First used by Danish mathematician Thomas Fincke in "Geomietria Rotundi" (1583). The extended sense of "slightly connected with a subject" is recorded by 1825. Related: Tangence; tangency.

torrential(adj.)

"pertaining to or resembling a torrent," 1849; see torrent (n.) + -ial. Perhaps by influence of French torrentiel, Spanish torrencial, or English tangential. Related: Torrentially. Blount (17c.) has torrentine as an adjective; Thackeray in 19c. uses torrentuous.

-ial

adjectival word-forming element, variant of -al (1) with connective -i-. From Latin -ialis, in which the -i- originally was from the stem of the word being attached but later came to be felt as connective.

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