verzetteln

Frequentative of Middle High German verzetten (“to scatter, disperse”), from ver- + Old High German zetten (“to spread”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tadjaną (“to strew, scatter”). Combination of zetten with the instrumental suffix -eln yielded the cognate noun Zettel (“warp”); its etymologically unrelated homonym meaning “slip/piece of paper, note” in turn feeds into sense 1 of verzetteln by association with the image of disorganized paperwork.

• IPA^(key): /fɛɐ̯ˈt͡sɛtl̩n/

• Audio

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• Hyphenation: ver‧zet‧teln

verzetteln (weak, third-person singular present verzettelt, past tense verzettelte, past participle verzettelt, auxiliary haben)

1. (reflexive, colloquial) to get caught up in the minutiae of, or pursue an inexpedient approach to, a task, problem, or affair

   Synonyms: den Überblick verlieren (“to lose track”), sich festfahren (“to get bogged down”), hängen bleiben an (“to get stuck on”)

2. (transitive, colloquial) to fritter, squander, waste, wanton (to expend haphazardly)

   Synonyms: verschwenden, vergeuden, (colloquial) verplempern

   • 1811, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated by Minna Steele Smith, Dichtung und Wahrheit [Poetry and Truth]‎, volume 1:

     Nun bekenne ich, daß es mir immer lästiger wurde, bald aus dieser bald aus jener Grammatik oder Beispielsammlung, bald aus diesem oder jenem Autor den Anlaß zu meinen Arbeiten zu nehmen, und so meinen Anteil an den Gegenständen zugleich mit den Stunden zu verzetteln.

     Now, I will confess that it became more and more irksome to me to take my subjects for study now from this grammar or collection of examples, now from that; now from one author, now from another, and so fritter away my interest in the subjects as well as in the lessons.

3. (transitive, Southern Germany, Switzerland) to spread, scatter (hay, straw) for drying

• Verzetteln, Verzetteler, Verzettelung
• verzettelnd, verzettelt

• “verzetteln” in Duden online
• “verzetteln” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “verzetteln” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.