I Knew Him, Horatio

Embrangle

Feb. 20th, 2005 | 11:10 pm

meta-creation_date: 2/20/2005 23:10:25

Embrangle: \Em*bran''gle\, v. t. [Mid-17th Cent.: em- (L. “in”) + brangle (obs. “to shake, squabble” > Fr. branler “to shake”]

past em bran gled
p. part. em bran gled
pres. part. em bran gling
pres. sing. em bran gles
noun em bran gle ment

v. t. 1 arch. make more complicated or confused through entanglements; confuse or entangle

v. t. 2 arch. confuse, perplex, or entangle somebody or something

Webster's Second New International Dictionary (1913) cites:

I am lost and embrangled in inextricable difficulties. —Berkeley.

(That is quite an artistic way to use the word. Even as a word heretofore unfamiliar to me, it doesn't sound in the least out of place . . .)

I hate MSN, I hate Encarta, I hate Microsoft, but for some odd reason, I found this list of 10 Words You Simply Must Know on Google. Tenth on the list, after the leader, “defenestrate”, and following “cullet”, “pellucid”, and others, lay a beautiful archaic word: “embrangle”. Needless to say, I quickly looked up the etymology (I refuse to use “Google” as a verb) online, and made a long-pondered decision in a moment's time to expose this word from one more (albeit small) venue to the minds of the world.
Public, educate thyself. Posted via Passage to Serendipity

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