Tang
Middle English (denoting a snake's tongue, formerly believed to be a stinging organ; also denoting the sting of an insect): from Old Norse tangi ‘point, tang of a knife’.
wiktionary
From Middle English tange, variant of tonge(“tongs, fang”), from Old Norse tangi(“pointed metal tool”), perhaps related to Old Norse tunga(“tongue”). But see also Old Dutch tanger(“sharp, tart, pinching”)
This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Imitative
Probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Danish tang(“seaweed”), Swedish tång, Icelandic þang
Clipping of poontang.
etymonline
tang (n.)
mid-14c., "serpent's tongue" (thought to be a stinging organ), later "sharp extension of a metal blade" (1680s), from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse tangi "spit of land; pointed end by which a blade is driven into a handle," from Proto-Germanic *tang-, from PIE *denk- "to bite" (see tongs). Influenced in some senses by tongue (n.). Figurative sense of "a sharp taste" is first recorded mid-15c.; that of "suggestion, trace" is from 1590s. The fish (1734) so called for their spines.
