Echo-words, like ting-tang, ding-dong, &c., must have their liberty; but
of #tang# it should be noted that, though the verb may raise no
inconvenience, yet the substantive has a very old and well-established
use in the sense of a projecting point or barb (especially of metal), or
sting, and that this demands respect and recognition. It is something
less than prong, and is the proper word for the metal point that fixes
the strap of a buckle. The homophonic ambiguity is notorious in
Shakespeare's
'She had a tongue with a tang',
where, as the _O.E.D._ suggests, the double sense of sting and ring were
perhaps intended.