Old English 'nett' (mesh) + 'weorc' (work) — originally netted fabric, now the defining metaphor for interconnected systems.
An arrangement of intersecting lines or channels; a group of interconnected people, computers, or broadcasting stations.
A compound of 'net' + 'work.' 'Net' from Old English 'nett' (a mesh, a knitted fabric, a snare), from Proto-Germanic *natją, from PIE *ned- (to knot, to bind, to twist together). 'Work' from Old English 'weorc' (something done, labor, a structure), from Proto-Germanic *werką, from PIE *wérǵom (work). Originally meant 'work in which threads are knotted into a mesh' — a piece of netted fabric. The
'Network' originally meant a physical piece of fabric with knotted mesh — it was a weaving term. The leap from woven cloth to connected systems happened because both involve threads (or lines) that intersect and bind together. The same PIE knot root *ned- gave us 'net,' 'nexus,' and 'node' — all describing things