throat

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /θrəʊt/, US /θroʊt/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English throte, inherited from Old English þrote (“throat”), also þrotu,^[2][3][4] implied in þrotbolla (“Adam's apple, larynx”), literally “throat boll”,^[2][4] and related to þrūtian (“to swell”), perhaps from the throat's outward appearance.^[2][4] It comes from Proto-Germanic *þrut-,^[2][4][3] which is also the source of Old High German drozza (“throat”) (German Drossel), Old Saxon strota and Old Norse þroti (“a swelling”);^[2][4][3] Barnhart takes it back to PIE Proto-Indo-European *trewd-, while Etymonline calls it of uncertain origin.^[2][4] Italian strozza (“throat”) is a Germanic loanword.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The front of the neck, Old English before 700;^[2][5] the passage from the mouth to the stomach or lungs is from about 888.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The throat as the entrance to the stomach, in figurative expressions of greed, is from before 1225,^[5] and as containing the voice, before 1250.^[5] The throat as a vital and vulnerable part, as in at each other's throats and cut one's own throat, is from about 1380,^[5] and to give someone the lie in his throat, to call him an outright liar, from 1588.^[5] Anything resembling a throat, a narrow passage, is so called by the 1580s,^[4] and the destructive capacity of death or war, its devouring throat, from before 1578.^[5] A sore throat is a throat colloquially from 1885.^[5] Throat as American college slang for a competitive student, short for cutthroat, is from the 1970s.^[4] Throaty, guttural or hoarse, is from about 1645.^[2]

Timeline

• before 700 – Old English þrote.^[2][5]
• c. 888 – the passage from the mouth.^[5]
• c. 1380 – a vulnerable part.^[5]
• 1580s – a narrow passage.^[4]
• c. 1645 – throaty.^[2]
• 1885 – a sore throat.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The front part of the neck.
2. The passage from the back of the mouth to the oesophagus and windpipe, including the pharynx.
3. A narrow passage or opening resembling a throat, as of a flower or a chimney.

Verb

1. To utter in a harsh or guttural voice.

Word family

• cutthroat
• rubythroat
• throatlatch
• yellowthroat
• throaty
• whitethroat
• throat sweetbread
• deep throat

Related words

• throttle

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press