English
snarl
Snarl comes from Middle English snarlen ‘to ensnare’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snarlen‘to ensnare’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590snarl
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snarlen‘to ensnare’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590snarl
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto XII: “And from her backe her garments she did teare,…”
Formed from snare + -le
Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ ‘a sling’
Proto-West Germanic *snarhā
Old English sneare ‘snare, noose’
Middle English snare ‘a trap for catching animals’
English snare
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)nerk- ‘to wind up, contract’
through Middle English snare
Another origin of snarl
- Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600snorren‘to drone’uncertain
- English1500–presentsnar‘to growl’
- Englishtodaysnarl
Today it means
verb To entangle; to complicate; to involve in knots.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English snarlen / snarl