Etymologically
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pretzel

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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.
  • 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)