sargasso

Origin

From Portuguese sargaço (“(originally) the Lisbon false sun-rose or woolly rock rose (Halimium lasianthum); (now) gulfweed, sargasso”), ultimately from Latin salicastrum (“kind of wild vine found in willow-thickets”), from salix (“plant of the genus Salix; willow”) + -astrum (suffix forming nouns expressing incomplete resemblance). Salix is derived from Proto-Indo-European *sl̥H-ik- (“willow”). The English word is cognate with French sargasse, Spanish sargazo. The capitalized form of sense 2 (“a confused, tangled mass or situation”), Sargasso, is probably a reference to the Sargasso Sea.