Etymologically
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throw

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /θrəʊ/, US /θroʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English throwen, earlier thrauwen,[2] inherited from Old English þrāwan (“to twist, turn, writhe, curl”),[3][2] from Proto-Germanic *threw-,[3] the source also of Old Saxon thrāian, Dutch draaien and Old High German drāen (German drehen) “to turn, twist”;[3][2] it is not found in Scandinavian or Gothic.[3] It is from Proto-Indo-European *tere- (“to rub, turn”),[3] as are Latin terere “to rub” and Greek teírein “to wear out”,[4][5] and it is related to thread.[6] The noun is from the verb.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To twist, turn: Old English þrāwan, about 1000, in Ælfric's Homilies.[2] “To hurl, cast” is from the early 13th century in Etymonline[3] and probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder, in Barnhart.[2]

Semantic evolution

It was not the usual Old English word for throwing, which was weorpan, related to warp.[3] The change of sense may have come through whirling a missile before letting it go;[3] the “twist” senses survived in dialect and in the technical twisting of raw silk.[3][4] In wrestling, “to throw to the ground”, it is from about 1300, and of a horse unseating its rider from the 1530s.[3] “To confuse, disconcert” is from 1844,[3] and “to lose a contest on purpose” is American colloquial by 1868,[3] probably short for throw away.[6] Throw a party was American college slang by 1916, throw a switch is by 1930, and throw the book at from 1932.[3] The noun is from the 1520s;[3] a stone's throw as a rough distance is from the early 14th century.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – to twist, turn.[2]
  • early 13th century – to hurl.[3]
  • c. 1300 – to throw in wrestling.[3]
  • early 14th century – stone's throw.[3]
  • 1520s – noun, an act of throwing.[3]
  • 1530s – of a horse, to unseat.[3]
  • 1844 – to confuse.[3]
  • 1868 – to lose on purpose.[3]
  • 1916 – throw a party.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To send through the air with a movement of the hand or arm.
  2. To put suddenly or with force: threw him into prison.
  3. To make fall to the ground, as in wrestling, or off a horse.
  4. To confuse or disconcert.
  5. To lose a game or contest on purpose.
  6. To give a party; to have a fit of temper.
  7. To shape pottery on a wheel.

Noun

  1. An act of throwing.
  2. The distance something is thrown: a stone's throw.
  3. A light blanket or cover for furniture.

Word family

  • thrower
  • downthrow
  • misthrow
  • throwster
  • windthrow
  • throw-in
  • throw-weight
  • free throw
  • thread
  • throe
  • warp
  • turn
  • trite
  • attrition

Usage notes

Other words spelled throw in the OED are an old noun meaning “a time, a while” (about 888) and an earlier form of throe.[7]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press