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Origin and history of noodle

noodle(n.1)

"long, narrow strip of dried dough," 1779, from German Nudel, which is of unknown origin; speculated to be ultimately from Latin minutulus "tiny, very small" or a variant of German Knödel "dumpling" and ultimately related to the Germanic source of knot. West Flemish noedel and French nouille are German loan-words.

noodle(v.)

"improvise or play casually on a musical instrument," 1937 (implied in noodling), from noun meaning "improvised music," 1926, perhaps from noodle (n.), on analogy of the suppleness of the food and that of the trills and improvised phrases in jazz improvisations. Related: Noodled.

noodle(n.2)

 "head," early 15c., nodel, "head, back of the head," perhaps from Latin nodulus (see nodule). The meaning "simpleton, stupid person" (1753) probably is derived from it. Noodle-thatcher was old slang for "wig-maker" (1716).

also from early 15c.

Entries linking to noodle

knot(n.)

Old English cnotta "intertwining of ropes, cords, etc.," from Proto-Germanic *knuttan- (source also of Low German knütte, Old Frisian knotta "knot," Dutch knot, Old High German knoto, German Knoten, perhaps also Old Norse knutr "knot, knob"). For pronunciation, see kn-.

Figurative sense of "difficult problem, a perplexity" was in Old English (compare Gordian knot). Symbolic of the bond of wedlock from early 13c. As an ornament of dress, first attested c. 1400. Meaning "thickened part or protuberance on tissue of a plant" is from late 14c. As "small group or cluster of persons" late 14c.

The nautical unit of measure of speed (1630s) is from the practice of attaching knotted string to the log line at equal distances (see log (n.2)). The ship's speed can be measured by the number of knots that play out while the sand glass is running.

The distance between the knots on the log-line should contain 1/120 of a mile, supposing the glass to run exactly half a minute. [Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, "A Voyage to South America" 1760]

Hence the word knot came also to be used as the equivalent of a nautical mile (in pre-World War II use in U.S. and Britain, about 6,080 feet). A speed of 10 knots will cover ten nautical miles in an hour (equivalent to a land speed of about 11.5 mph).

nodule(n.)

"a little lump or knot," c. 1400, from Latin nodulus "small knot," diminutive of nodus "knot" (from PIE root *ned- "to bind, tie"). Related: Nodulated; nodulous; nodulation.

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    Trends of noodle

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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