Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗A tangled mess; an entanglement, a snarl, a tangle. · A confusing, intricate, or perplexing situation; a complication. · A thread which has unravelled from fabric, etc.; also, a situation of fabric, etc., coming apart; an unravelling.
To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle. · Often followed by up: to form (something) out of discrete elements, like weaving fabric from threads; to knit. · To unwind (a reel of thread, a skein of yarn, etc.); to pull apart (cloth, a seam, etc.); to fray, to unpick, to unravel; also, to pull out (a string of yarn, a thread, etc.) from a piece of fabric, or a skein or reel. · To confuse or perplex (someone or something).
The verb is borrowed from Dutch ravelen, rafelen (“to tangle, become entangled; to fray; to unweave”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain. It has been suggested that the verb is originally derived from the noun, but the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as “very uncertain”, and instead regards the noun as having derived from the verb (compare Dutch rafel, raffel (“frayed thread”)). Ravel is a contranym having both the senses of tangling (verb senses 1.1, 1.2, 1.4.1, and 2.3; noun sense 1) and untangling (verb senses 1.3, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 2.1, and 2.2; noun sense 2). It would appear that the tangling senses predate the untangling ones (as in Dutch), but this is uncertain because the first published uses of both senses of the words occur around the same time.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 6 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"A tangled mess; an entanglement, a snarl, a tangle.",
"A confusing, intricate, or perplexing situation; a complication.",
"A thread which has unravelled from fabric, etc.; also, a situation of fabric, etc., coming apart; an unravelling."
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"To unwind (a reel of thread, a skein of yarn, etc.); to pull apart (cloth, a seam, etc.); to fray, to unpick, to unravel; also, to pull out (a string of yarn, a thread, etc.) from a piece of fabric, or a skein or reel.",
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