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jacobgebhart wrote:

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I am looking for a Rabbinic perspective on a word, the word tzitzit. Does the Hebrew word mean anything more than just "fringe?"

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A צִיצִית tzitzit (spelt צִיצִת on all five occasions that it occurs in the T'nach − B'midbar 15:38 [twice] and 15:39, Y'shayahu 28:4 and Y'hezkél 8:3) is not a "fringe"; the word denotes a "tassel", or a "lock" of hair (see especially Y'hezkél 8:3 for an example of the latter use); when the mitzvah is repeated in D'varim 22:12, the alternative term גְּדִיל g'dil is used instead.

It would be easier to answer a question like this more effectively if you were to give us some idea of why you are asking this so that we could know exactly what you're looking for.

jacobgebhart wrote:

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I am attempting to understand the meaning of the word tzitzit.... I am also looking for its etymological context.

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Thank you for expanding on your question, and I can now address exactly what you are asking.

Rashi explains

וְעָשׂוּ לָהֶם צִיצִת - עַל שֵׁם הַפְּתִילִים הַתְּלוּיִם בָּהּ, כְּמוֹ "וַיִּקָּחֵנִי בְּצִיצִת רֹאשִׁי" (יְחֶזְקֵאל ח' ג'). דָּבָר אַחֵר: "צִיצִת" עַל שֵׁם "וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ" כְּמוֹ "מֵצִיץ מִן־הַחֲרַכִּים" (שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים ב' ט')׃

"They should make a tzitzit for themselves" − it is called a tzitzit ["tassel"] because of the threads that dangle from it*, similar to "He took me by a tzitzit [i.e. a lock of hair] of my head" [Y'hezkél 8:3].
Alternatively, the word tzitzit is connected to u-r'item oto "and when you see it" [verse 39] which is to be linked with métzitz min ha-harakkim, "peeping through the lattices" [Shir Ha-shirim 2:9].

"What we term a צִיצִת tzitzit consists of two parts: (1) the more compact upper portion of the threads formed by winding one of them around the others, and (2) the threads which hang from that. Rashi says that the whole attachment is called צִיצִת tzitzit ('threads') because of the threads that hang from it, these being its more prominent feature. The word בָּהּ bah ('from it') in Rashi means 'from what we technically call a tzitzit'."

וְהָתַּנְיָא: צִיץ כְּמִין טַס שֶׁל זָהָב וְרוֹחַב שְׁתֵּי אֶצְבָּעוֹת וּמוֹקֵף מֵאוֹזֶן לְאוֹזֶן; וְכָתוּב עָלָיו בִּשְּׁנֵי שִׁיטִין יוּ"ד הֵ"א לְמַעְלָה וְקוֹדֶשׁ לָמֶ"ד לְמַטָּה. וַאֲמַר רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶֽזֶר בְּרַבִּי יוֹסֵי: "אֲנִי רְאִיתִיו בְּעִיר רוֹמִי וְכָתוּב קֹדֶשׁ לַייָ בְּשִׁיטָה אַחַת"׃

It was taught: "The tzitz was like a kind of gold plate two fingerbreadths wide that encircled [the forehead] from ear to ear, and engraved on it in two lines was the Four Lettered Name yod, hé, vav, hé above and kodesh l' below [i.e. two rows of four letters each]".
However Rabbi Eli'ezer b'Rabbi Yosé said, "I actually saw it in the city of Rome [where it was taken after Y'rushalayim was captured and the Temple destroyed] and the inscription was kodesh ladonai all on one line".

The intrinsic value of a partial head-band about 40-50cm in length and 4cm in breadth (even made of pure gold) wouldn't be that much, but its value as an historical and sacred artefact dating back three and a half millennia to the time of Mosheh himself would be incalculable. Is it any wonder that the Vatican remains tight-lipped about whether they have it (as well as the countless other priceless sacred relics looted from the Temple by Titus's soldiers and paraded through the streets of Rome in 68CE)? The Vatican authorities are not going to relinquish any of these objects without a fight, even if they can be persuaded to admit that they have these items in their possession in the first place!