As I waited for the train today, I used the word tack, meaning a course of action. I then asked the people I was standing with if tack was a form of attack. They all said "no," adamantly. I couldn't find the etymology for tack with that meaning, though the etymology of attack is "1590–1600; earlier atta(c)que < MF atta(c)quer < It attaccare to attack."

While they are probably right that there is no connection, it makes sense that they could be. While tack is a course of action, attack is a stronger form of taking action. Does anyone know if they're related?

See Etymology online. Your meaning is (1). It doesn't seem to have any connection with "attack".

Ah yes. Etymology.com has that particular definition, I see. I normally don't use etymology.com because I haven't always found it to be reliable, though in this case I should have. It says that the definition meaning "course or line of conduct or action" derived from the meaning "rope to hold the corner of a sail in place." That meaning, according to etymology.com, evolved from "to attach as a supplement," which evolved from, "small, sharp nail with a flat head." These meanings come from

quote:

1296, from O.N.Fr. taque "nail, pin, peg," probably from a Gmc. source (cf. M.Du. tacke "twig, spike," Low Ger. takk "tine, pointed thing," Ger. Zacken "sharp point, tooth, prong"); perhaps related to tail.

If etymology is correct, I am wrong.

It seemed plausible to me, but no cigar!

I have always assumed that "to change tack" meant to change a course of action and that this meaning came in turn from the sailing expression. Etymology.com has:

"The meaning "rope to hold the corner of a sail in place" is first recorded 1481; hence the verb meaning "sail into the wind," first recorded 1557, which lead to the fig. sense of "course or line of conduct or action" (1675)." That seems pretty good to me - although the definition they give "sail into the wind" is maybe not quite as comprehensive as it might be.

Sailing into the wind means that you sail diagonally, half into the wind for a while and then you "change tack" and sail diagonally into the wind at at the opposite angle. If a vessel didn't change tack, then it would go off course if its intended heading were directly into the wind.

The OED on attack:

quote:

a. F. attaque-r, 16th c. ad. It. attaccare: see ATTACH.

attach:

quote:

a. OF. atachie-r (mod. attacher), cogn. with It. attaccare, Sp. atacar; f. à to, at + a radical which is found also in détacher DETACH, and is connected by Diez and Littré with the Genevese tache, Sp., Pg. tacha, a round-headed nail, a TACK, q.v. Thus lit. ‘to tack to.’ See Diez, Littré, Skeat.

So it is likely that tack and attack are related.

there is also "tack" in the sense of adhesive (low tack, high tack)

and one source I read claimed that tack was an old abbreviation for "tackle" meaning gear in use since 1200, referring primarily to fishing & sailing gear; 'hardtack' (biscuit) was 'food gear'; later it was applied to the equestrian trade (pretty rare in my world, but I have noticed "Tack" shops at Cape Cod..)

Goofy's cite shows 'tack' and 'attack' are clearly related etymologically, but their use in modern-day conversation derives from two different branches of the tree: 'take a different tack' comes from sailing, meaning to change one's direction of approach. One could say in the same context 'let's come at it from a different angle of attack' and I believe then we are invoking military strategy.

It's interesting that the warlike "attack" was originally perceived as attaching oneself to the enemy-- virtually nailing their butt!