þrawan

Forms

þrāwan (strong class 7; third-person singular present þrǣwþ, past singular þrēow, past plural þrēowon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þrāan, from Proto-Germanic *þrēaną (“to turn, twist”).^[1][2][3] In the other West Germanic languages the verb became weak: Old Saxon thrāian and Old High German drāen “to turn”;^[2][4] Norse has only a personal name made from its participle, Old Norse Þráinn.^[2][4] The Old High German verb is recorded in glosses from the eighth century on and gave German drehen.^[5]

Orel relates it to Ancient Greek τείρω (teírō, “to wear out, distress”), Latin terō (“to rub”), Lithuanian trìnti (“to rub”) and Proto-Slavic *terti (“to rub”).^[2] Holthausen and Köbler likewise put it under the root Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, bore, turn”).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in Ælfric's Lives of Saints, in a manuscript of the early eleventh century: in the life of Agatha the judge orders her on hencgene astreccan, and ðrawan swa swa wiððan “to be stretched on the rack and twisted like a withy”.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Used transitively the verb means to twist, and so to rack or torture, as in Ælfric's saints' lives and homilies; Ælfric's Grammar gives ic samod þrawe for Latin “contorqueo”.^[9] Intransitively it means to turn round, of a flame that turned against the wind, to revolve, and to curl, of locks of hair.^[9] In glosses it renders Latin “retorquere”.^[6]

The sense "to hurl, fling" appears only in Middle English, in the early thirteenth century, when Middle English throwen had begun to be used of movement; the verb is now English throw.^[10][9]

Timeline

• s. xi in. – ðrawan swa swa wiððan in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[7][8]
• early 13th century – Middle English throuen “to hurl, fling”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. to twist, turn.^[9][1]
2. to twist on the rack, torture.^[9][6]
3. to turn round, take another direction.^[9]
4. to revolve.^[9]
5. to curl, of hair.^[9][11]

Descendants

• Middle English throwen (→ English throw; Scots thraw)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 426
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 368
5. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þrāwan
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 282
8. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1065
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Nerthus: An Online Lexical Database of Old English, Universidad de La Rioja, nerthusproject.com (derivational paradigms, via the Nerthus Project's open data)