Etymograph

English

tangle

Tangle comes from Middle English tanglen.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tanglen1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1646tangle1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tangle
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1646, Richard Crashaw: “When my simple weakness strays, / Tangled in forbidden…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tanglenWiktionary, English tangle
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1646tangleWiktionary, English tangle. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1646, Richard Crashaw: “When my simple weakness strays, / Tangled in forbidden…”

The story

From Middle English tanglen, probably of North Germanic origin, compare Swedish taggla (‘to disorder’), Old Norse þǫngull, þang (‘tangle; seaweed’), see Etymology 2 below.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English tanglen

Another origin of tangle

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350þongull
  2. Danishmoderntanguncertain
  3. Englishtodaytangle

Today it means

verb To mix together or intertwine.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tangle”. 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 / Middle English tanglen / tangle

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