Etymology

snag

S1N1A1G2

Today it means: A stump or base of a branch that has been lopped off; a short branch, or a sharp or rough branch. Full definition →

First used 1937.Middle English *snagge ← Old Norse snagi
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snag · noun, verb1

  1. Old Norse · derived fromsnagi“clothes peg”
  2. Middle English · inherited from*snagge
  3. English todaysnag

From earlier snag (“stump or branch of a tree”), from Middle English *snagge, *snage, from Old Norse snagi (“clothes peg”) (compare Old Norse snag-hyrndr (“snag-horned, having jagged corners”)), perhaps related to *sneganą, *snakaną (“to crawl, creep, wind about”) if the original meaning of the root *sneg- was more like “pointy object, stinging creature”. Note also *snakkōną (“to snap at, smack the lips; to blow”) (German schnacken (“to chat”)) and English sneck, snatch. Compare Norwegian snag, snage (“protrusion; projecting point”), Icelandic snagi (“peg”). Also see the Dutch-origin fish names snoek and snook.

snag · noun2

The Australian National Dictionary Centre suggests that snag as slang for "sausage" most likely derives from the earlier British slang for "light meal", although it makes no comment on how it came to be specifically applied to sausages.Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms The word's use in football slang originates as a shortening of "sausage roll", rhyming slang for "goal", to sausage, and hence, by synonymy, snag.

First known use, by meaning

  • From 1937. A sausage.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.