zetteln

Attested in Upper and Central German from the 15th century, zetteln is an l-diminutive of the verb zetten (“scatter, strew”) (a cognate of Old Norse teðja (“to scatter manure”)), from Proto-Germanic *tadjaną (“to strew, scatter”), whence also dialectal English tath (“dung”). Grimm suspects that the technical meaning "to warp the loom" (also 15th century) is derived via the noun Zettel (“warp”) (itself from the verb zetten) rather than from zetten directly.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtsɛtəln/, [ˈtsɛtl̩n]
• Hyphenation: zet‧teln

zetteln (third-person singular simple present zettelt, past tense zettelte, past participle gezettelt, auxiliary haben)

1. to strew, to scatter
2. to spread out, to separate, to arrange
3. (agriculture) to spread out cut grass or manure
4. (weaving) to warp a loom

   1493 kainen zettel innemen oder wúrken, er hab in dann selbs gezettlet ("[he should] take over or work no warp, unless that he has himself warped it). Urkundenbuch Stuttgart ed. Adolf Rapp, Stuttgart, 1912, p.560.

• verzetteln

• “(1) zetteln” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• “(2) zetteln” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.