pretzel [M20th] This entered English in the USA from Germany, the home of this snack. But German Bretzel or Pretzel is not of Germanic origin but goes back to Latin, coming from post-classical bracellus used for some kind of baked item, which in turn goes back to a diminutive form of classical Latin brachiatus ‘having arms, branched’, formed from brachium ‘arm’. The name comes from the way that the distinctive knot of a pretzel can be seen as like crossed arms. See also bracelet.