tack: English has three distinct words tack. The oldest, meaning ‘nail or other fastening’ [14], comes from Old Northern French taque, a variant of Old French tache ‘nail, fastening’. This was borrowed from prehistoric Germanic, but the nature of its connection with attach, if any, is not known. In the 15th century it was applied to the ‘ropes, cables, etc fastening a ship’s sails’, and the adjustment of these fastenings when changing direction led to the use of tack as a verb meaning ‘change direction in a boat’. Tacky ‘sticky’, derived from tack in the 18th century, also depends on the general notion of ‘fastening’ (the origins of the other tacky, ‘shoddy, tasteless’ [19], are not known). Tack ‘horse’s harness and other equipment’ [20] is short for tackle [13].
This was probably borrowed from Middle Low German takel, a derivative of taken ‘seize’ (to which English take is related). The origins of tack ‘food’ [19] (as in hard tack) are not known. => tackle
tack (n.1)
"clasp, hook, fastener," also "a nail" of some kind, c. 1400, from Old North French taque "nail, pin, peg" (Old French tache, 12c., "nail, spike, tack; pin brooch"), probably from a Germanic source (compare Middle Dutch tacke "twig, spike," Frisian tak "a tine, prong, twig, branch," Low German takk "tine, pointed thing," German Zacken "sharp point, tooth, prong"), from Proto-Germanic *tag-. Meaning "small, sharp nail with a flat head" is attested from mid-15c. The meaning "rope to hold the corner of a sail in place" is first recorded late 15c.
tack (v.1)
late 14c., "to attach" with a nail, etc., from tack (n.1). Meaning "to attach as a supplement" (with suggestion of hasty or arbitrary proceeding) is from 1680s. Related: Tacked; tacking.
tack (n.2)
"horse's harness, etc.," 1924, shortening of tackle (n.) in sense of "equipment." Tack in a non-equestrian sense as a shortening of tackle is recorded in dialect from 1777.
tack (n.3)
"food" in general, but in dialect especially "bad food," and especially among sailors "food of a bread kind," 1833, perhaps a shortening and special use of tackle (n.) in the sense of "gear." But compare tack "taste" (c. 1600), perhaps a variant of tact.
tack (v.2)
"turn a ship's course toward the wind at an angle," 1550s, from tack (n.1) in the ship-rigging sense (the ropes were used to move the vessel temporarily to one side or another of its general line of course, to take advantage of a side-wind); hence tack (n.) "course of conduct or mode of action suited to some purpose" (1670s), from figurative use of the verb (1630s). Related: Tacked; tacking.
