English
sargasso
Sargasso comes from Portuguese sargaço ‘(originally) the Lisbon false sun-rose or…’.
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentsargaço‘(originally) the Lisbon false sun-rose or woolly rock rose’
- Englishearliest quotation 1785sargasso
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentsargaço‘(originally) the Lisbon false sun-rose or woolly rock rose’
- Englishearliest quotation 1785sargasso
Earliest quotation: 1785, Arctic Zoology. 2 Vols. […] [book review]: “Thus the productions of Jamaica, and other places bordering…”
The story
Salix is derived from Proto-Indo-European *sl̥H-ik- (‘willow’). The English word is cognate with French sargasse, Spanish sargazo. The capitalized form of sense 2 (‘a confused, tangled mass or situation’), Sargasso, is probably a reference to the Sargasso Sea.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sl̥H-ik- ‘willow’
through Latin salix ‘plant of the genus Salix’
Today it means
noun A brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Portuguese sargaço / sargasso