Etymograph

English

kringle

Kringle comes from Old Norse kringla ‘ring, circle’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *grenǵʰ- ‘to turn’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*grenǵʰ-1‘to turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kringaz1‘ring, circle’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350kringla2‘ring, circle’
  4. Danishmodernkringle2
  5. Englishtodaykringle2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old Norse kringla
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English kringle

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*grenǵʰ-Wiktionary, Old Norse kringla‘to turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kringazWiktionary, Old Norse kringla‘ring, circle’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350kringlaWiktionary, English kringle‘ring, circle’
  4. DanishmodernkringleWiktionary, English kringle
  5. EnglishtodaykringleWiktionary, English kringle

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *grenǵʰ- ‘to turn’

cringe, 5 more

Today it means

noun A Scandinavian pastry, a variety of pretzel.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “kringle”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old Norse kringla. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *grenǵʰ- / kringle

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