sargasso

Meanings

1. A brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.
2. Also Sargasso: a confused, tangled mass or situation.
3. A part of an ocean or sea characterized by floating masses of sargassos, like the Sargasso Sea.

1. Ellipsis of Sargasso Sea.

1. Alternative form of sargasso (“a confused, tangled mass or situation”).

Etymology

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.