noose

The story

1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*ansiju“eyelet, loop”
2. Old Saxon · derived from*ōsia
3. Middle Low German · derived fromȫse
4. Middle Low German · derived fromnȫse“loop, noose, snare”
5. Old Occitan · derived fromnous
6. Old French · derived fromnos
7. Middle English · inherited fromnose“noose, loop”
8. English todaynoose

From Middle English nose (“noose, loop”), of unclear origin. Possibly from Old French nos or Old Occitan nous, nos, nominative singular or accusative plural of nou (“knot”), with a required change in meaning shifting from the "knot" itself to the "loop" created by the knot. If so, then cognate with French nœud (“knot”), Portuguese nó (“knot”) and Spanish nudo (“knot”). Compare node and knot. Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, borrowed from Middle Low German nȫse (“loop, noose, snare”), itself of obscure origin. Perhaps derived from an incorrect division of ēn' ȫse (literally “a loop”), from Middle Low German ȫse, from Old Saxon *ōsia, from Proto-West Germanic *ansiju (“eyelet, loop”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Noose, Nouze (“loop, eyelet”) and Saterland Frisian Oose (“eyelet, loop”), potentially created via the same process.

Words from the same roots