pretzel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɹɛt.səl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Brezel, Pretzel,^[2][3][4][5] from Middle High German brēzel, prēzel,^[2][4][6] from Old High German brezitella,^[2][3][4][7] from Medieval Latin *brachitellum, presumably a biscuit baked in the shape of folded arms,^[2][3][4][7] a diminutive from Latin bracchiātus (“having branches like arms”), from bracchium (“arm”) (see brace).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “upper arm”).^[2][4] The form with p- reflects the Upper German pronunciation.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A crisp biscuit baked in the form of a knot and salted (1836 in Etymonline; about 1838 in Merriam-Webster; 1856 in the OED, Barnhart and the AHD, in an American newspaper).^{[4][5][9][3][2]}

Semantic evolution

Pretzels were probably brought to the United States by German immigrants in the 19th century.^[10] The knotted shape had long been known in Germanic countries, as its appearance in a 16th-century painting of the fight between Carnival and Lent shows.^[10] A story credits a monk in France or northern Italy with inventing the shape.^[2][11] Anything twisted or tangled is now said to be pretzel-like, and the verb to pretzel means to twist or contort.^[1]

Timeline

• 1836 – the biscuit (Etymonline).^[4]
• 1856 – first quotation in the OED.^[9][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A glazed, brittle biscuit or cracker, salted on the outside and usually baked in the shape of a loose knot or a stick.
2. A larger, soft and chewy version of this, made of bread dough.
3. Anything knotted, twisted or tangled.

Verb

1. To bend, twist or contort.

Related words

• brace
• bracelet
• brachial
• embrace

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
9. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ From Abracadabra to Zeus: Word Histories and Mysteries (2004), Boston: Houghton Mifflin (American Heritage Dictionaries)