fray

fray¹ brawl, fight

Etymology

The word for a brawl is inherited from Middle English frai,^[5][2][6] a shortening of affray,^{[7][8][9][2][10][11]} and the verb meaning to frighten is fraien, shortened from afraien or affraien.^[12][3][6] The Shorter Oxford derives the noun from that verb.^[13] The longer word comes from Anglo-Norman affrai and afraier, formed with a change of prefix from Old French esfrei (“disturbance, fright”) and esfreer (“to disturb, frighten”).^{[7][10][2][6]} Barnhart and Etymonline trace the Old French verb to Vulgar Latin *exfridō (“to take out of peace”),^[9][8] formed from ex- (“out of”) and Frankish *fridu (“peace”),^[9][6] which is related to Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”).^[10][14][15] The same French verb is behind afraid.^[10][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A feeling of alarm: mid-14th century in Etymonline,^[8] and in the OED from 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[7] Barnhart dates the noun, a noisy quarrel or fight, to about 1350,^[16][9] and the Middle English Dictionary has þis worldus fray in a northern homily collection of about 1350.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first senses of the noun were fright and an assault or attack (about 1430 to 1575);^[7][13] the sense of a disturbance, noisy quarrel or fight is recorded from about 1420,^[7] and Etymonline finds it in Anglo-Latin from the late 14th century.^[8] From 1702 it was used of a war of words,^[7] and the word came to cover any struggle or dispute, literal or figurative.^[13][3] The sense "fright" became obsolete except in Scotland,^[7][12] where Wright recorded it, with a verb to fray, to frighten, in Scotland, Northumberland and Yorkshire around 1900.^[17] The verb, to frighten (before 1400), to scare away (1526) and to quarrel or fight (1465), survives only in poetry and archaic style.^[7][13][12] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "a broil; a battle; a fight".^[18] He traced it to French effrayer.^[18] Etymonline notes fraymaker, a brawler, in a statute of the 1530s.^[8]

Timeline

• mid-14th century – a feeling of alarm.^[8] Barnhart dates the noun, a fight, to about 1350.^[9]
• 1398 – fear, alarm, fright.^[7]
• before 1400 – verb, to frighten.^[7]
• c. 1420 – a disturbance or noisy quarrel; a brawl or fight.^[7][8]
• c. 1430 – an assault, an attack (obsolete by 1575).^[7]
• 1465 – verb, to quarrel or fight.^[7]
• 1526 – verb, to frighten away.^[7]
• 1702 – a war of words.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A noisy quarrel or fight; a brawl: Two of the guests were thrown out after a fray in the bar.^[11][12][7]
2. A heated contest or dispute, especially one that someone joins: Another candidate has entered the fray.^[3][13][7]
3. (archaic) Fright or alarm; now chiefly Scottish.^[11][12][7]
4. (obsolete, c. 1430–1575) An assault or attack.^[7][13]

Verb

1. (archaic) To frighten; to scare away.^{[11][12][3][7]}
2. (archaic) To quarrel or fight.^[12][13][7]

fray² wear by rubbing, unravel

Etymology

The verb meaning to rub or wear is inherited from Middle English fraien (“to wear, bruise, crush”),^[5][2] borrowed from Old French freier (“to rub”), also fraiier and froiier,^{[5][8][3][13]} from Latin fricō (“to rub, rub down”).^{[7][8][2][9][6][10]} In Anglo-Norman freier, recorded from the early 12th century, meant to rub, to wipe and to brush against.^[19] Barnhart, the OED and Merriam-Webster name the later form French frayer as the source.^[9][7][12] The Latin verb is also the source of friction.^[8][9][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

To wear, crush or bruise: about 1405, in Mum and the Sothsegger.^[5][9] Etymonline dates the sense "to wear off by rubbing" to about 1400,^[8] and Barnhart the sense "to rub" to 1410.^[9] Hoad finds the verbal noun fraying, the noise of friction, already in the 14th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb meant to wear, bruise or crush, and of weapons to clash.^[5] From 1575, in Gascoigne's book on hunting, it was used of deer rubbing their heads against trees to strip the velvet from new horns,^[7][1] a sense Wright still recorded as a hunting term in Somerset and Devon.^[17] The modern sense, to wear through by rubbing and to ravel out the edge of cloth or rope, is recorded from 1710 in Steele's Tatler,^[7] and the intransitive "to become frayed" from 1721.^[7][8] Figurative use of strained nerves and tempers followed.^[13][3] Senses that died out were "to bruise" (about 1460 to 1567) and "to clash, collide" (1483 to 1500).^[7][10] The noun, a frayed place, is recorded from before 1627, in Middleton;^[7] Etymonline dates it to the 1620s and Merriam-Webster to 1630.^[8][12] In the 19th century the verb was borrowed again from French in the sense "to clear a path".^[7] The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins thinks frazzle is probably linked with this verb.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1405 – to wear, crush, bruise.^[5][9] Etymonline dates the verb to about 1400.^[8]
• 1410 – to rub, wear off.^[9]
• c. 1460 – to bruise (obsolete by 1567).^[7]
• 1483 – to clash, collide (obsolete by 1500).^[7]
• 1575 – of deer, to rub the head against trees.^[7]
• before 1627 – noun, a frayed place.^[7]
• 1710 – to wear through by rubbing; to ravel out the edge of cloth.^[7]
• 1721 – intransitive, to become frayed.^[7][8]
• 1849 – to clear or force a path.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wear the edge of cloth or the end of a rope by rubbing, so that the threads come loose; of material, to unravel in this way: The cuffs of his old coat had begun to fray.^{[3][12][7][13]}
2. To strain or irritate, as nerves or tempers: Hours of waiting frayed everyone's patience.^[3][13]
3. Of a deer, to rub the antlers against trees to remove the velvet.^[12][7][13]
4. To rub against something.^[12][7]

Noun

1. A worn or raveled place, as on fabric.^[3][12][7]

Word family

• fraying
• unfrayed