spangle (n.)

mid-15c., spangel, "small piece of glittering metal," a diminutive (with -el (2)) of obsolete Middle English spang "glittering ornament, spangle" (c. 1400), which probably is from Middle Dutch spange "brooch, clasp" (cognate with Old English spang "buckle, clasp," German Spange "clasp, brooch"), from Proto-Germanic *spango, from an extended form of PIE root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin."

1540s, "cover (a fabric, garment, etc.) with spangles; decorate with many small, bright objects or points," from spangle (n.). The intransitive meaning "glitter, glisten" is from 1630s. Related: Spangled; spangling. In ornithology, spangled is "speckled" (1580s) as in spangled coquette, a type of crested hummingbird.