Origin and history of tongue

elementary intransitive verb of motion, Old English cuman "to move with the purpose of reaching, or so as to reach, some point; to arrive by movement or progression;" also "move into view, appear, become perceptible; come to oneself, recover; arrive; assemble" (class IV strong verb; past tense cuom, com, past participle cumen), from Proto-Germanic *kwem- (source also of Old Saxon cuman, Old Frisian kuma, Middle Dutch comen, Dutch komen, Old High German queman, German kommen, Old Norse koma, Gothic qiman), from PIE root *gwa- "to go, come."

The substitution of Middle English -o- for Old English -u- was a scribal habit before minims to avoid misreading the letters in the old style handwriting, which jammed them together (see U). Modern past tense form came is Middle English, probably from Old Norse kvam, replacing Old English cuom.

Meaning "to happen, occur" is from early 12c. (come to pass "happen, occur" is from 1520s). As an invitation to action, c. 1300; as a call or appeal to a person (often in expanded forms: "come, come," "come, now"), mid-14c. Come again? as an off-hand way of asking "what did you say?" is attested by 1884. For sexual senses, see cum.

Remarkably productive with prepositions (NTC's "Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs" lists 198 combinations); consider the varied senses in come to "regain consciousness," come over "possess" (as an emotion), come at "attack," come on (interj.) "be serious," and come off "occur, have some level of success" (1864). Among other common expressions are:

To come down with "become ill with" (a disease), 1895; come in, of a radio operator, "begin speaking," 1958; come on "advance in growth or development," c. 1600; come out, of a young woman, "make a formal entry into society," 1782; come round "return to a normal state or better condition," 1841; come through "act as desired or expected," 1914; come up "arise as a subject of attention," 1844; come up with "produce, present," 1934.

To have it coming "deserve what one suffers" is from 1904. To come right down to it "get to fundamental facts" is from 1875.

mid-14c., tang, tonge, "serpent's tongue" (thought to be a stinging organ), from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse tangi "spit of land; pointed end by which a blade is driven into a handle; sting of a scorpion or bee; fang of a serpent; prong-like tongue of a demon; pungency of flavor," which is reconstructed to be from Proto-Germanic *tang-, from PIE *denk- "to bite" (see tongs).

It was used later in English as in Old Norse of other long, projecting parts, such as "portion of a metal blade that extends into the handle" of a sword, knife, chisel, etc. (1680s). Influenced in some senses by tongue (n.). The meaning "sting of an insect or reptile" lingered in provincial English.

The figurative sense of "a sharp taste, pungency of flavor" is recorded by mid-15c. (for sense evolution, compare piquant, pungent, sharp (adj.), acrid, etc.; there are similar evolutions in the Dutch and German cognates); that of "suggestion, trace" is from 1590s. The fish (1734) are so called for their spines.

As a verb, Middle English tangen, "to bite" (of a serpent); "to pierce" (of an arrow), c. 1400, from the noun.