Tiff
early 18th century (denoting a slight outburst of temper): probably of dialect origin.
wiktionary
Originally, a sniff, sniffing; compare Icelandic word for a smell.
From Middle English tiffen, Old French tiffer, tifer("to bedizen"; > Modern French attifer), from Frankish *tipfōn, *tippōn(“to decorate”), perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *tuppaz(“top, tip”). Compare Dutch tippen(“to clip the points or ends of the hair”), Old Norse tippa(“point, tip”), English tip(noun), Middle High German zipfen(“to prance; skip; sashay; bob; flutter; frisk”).
tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)
tiff (plural tiffs)
etymonline
tiff (n.)
1727, "outburst of temper," later "petty quarrel" (1754), of uncertain origin; OED suggests imitative, "from the sound of a slight puff of air or gas."
