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Origin and history of tangle

tangle(v.)

mid-14c., tanglen, "encumber, enmesh, knit together confusedly," a shortening of entangle in some cases, in others probably a nasalized variant of tagilen "to involve in a difficult situation, entangle," from a Scandinavian source (compare dialectal Swedish taggla "to disorder," Old Norse þongull "seaweed"), from Proto-Germanic *thangul- (source also of Frisian tung, Dutch tang, German Tang "seaweed").

If so, the original sense might be "seaweed" as something that entangles (itself, or oars, or fishes, or nets). "The development of such a verb from a noun of limited use like tangle 1 is somewhat remarkable, and needs confirmation" [Century Dictionary].

The transitive sense of "bring others into one's power, entrap" is from mid-15c. In reference to material things, from c. 1500. The meaning "fight with" is American English, recorded by 1928. Related: Tangled; tangling. Tanglefoot (1859) was Western U.S. slang for "strong whiskey." Tanglesome "complicated" is attested from 1823.

tangle(n.)

1610s, "a tangled condition, a snarl of threads," from tangle (v.). The older word meaning "large type of seaweed" (Middle English) is from Old Norse; also

"tall, lank person."

also from 1610s

Entries linking to tangle

entangle(v.)

early 15c., entanglen, "involve (someone in difficulty); embarrass;" from Anglo-French entangler, variant of entagler. See en- (1) + tangle (n.). Related: Entangled; entangling.

untangle(v.)

1540s, "loosen from tangles," hence "clear up, free from doubt or uncertainty" (c. 1600); from un- (2) "reverse, opposite of" + tangle (v.). Related: Untangled; untangling.

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    embroil
    c. 1600, "throw into disorder," from French embrouillier "entangle, confuse, embroil" (cognate of Italian imbrogliare), from assimilated form of en- "in" (see en- (1)) + brouiller "confuse," from Old French brooillier "to mix, mingle," figuratively "to have sexual intercourse" (1
    sweep
    early 14c., swepen, "make clean by sweeping with a broom;" mid-14c., "perform the act of sweeping," replacing earlier swope, and perhaps originally the past tense form of it. Middle English swope "sweep" is from Old English swapan "to sweep" (transitive and intransitive), for whi
    drag
    late 14c., draggen, "to draw a grapnel along the bottom of a river, lake, etc., in search of something;" late 15c., "to draw away by force, pull haul," from Old Norse draga, or a dialectal variant of Old English dragan "to draw," both from Proto-Germanic *draganan "to draw, pull,
    raggedy
    The tangle of tales about the origin of the doll and the name probably are mostly inventions to clothe sorrow's grieving-shrine...
    fuchsia
    Not related to Latin fucus "seaweed, sea wrack, tangle" (see fucus) which also gave its name to a red color prepared from...
    ravel
    1630s, "a tangle;" 1832, "a broken thread, a loose end," from ravel (v.)....
    knot
    Old English cnotta "intertwining of ropes, cords, etc.," from Proto-Germanic *knuttan- (source also of Low German knütte, Old Frisian knotta "knot," Dutch knot, Old High German knoto, German Knoten, perhaps also Old Norse knutr "knot, knob"). For pronunciation, see kn-. Figurativ
    interlace
    formerly also enterlace, late 14c. (trans.), "unite by crossing the laces," thus, "entangle, bind together," from Old French entrelacier (12c.), from entre- (see entre-) "between" + lacier "to tie, entangle," from laz (see lace (n.)). Intransitive sense from 1590s. Television sen
    velar
    1726, from Latin velaris, from velum "sail, curtain" (see veil (n.)). Originally an architect's term for a type of cupola resembling a swelling sail; phonetics sense is from 1876, on notion of "pertaining to the velum," the anatomist's name for the soft palate (velum in this sens

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