truss

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English trussen,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman trusser and Old French trusser, torser, later trousser,^[2][6][3][7] recorded in Old French in the “Chanson de Roland” (11th century) and in Anglo-Norman from 1121–35, in the senses "to pack, bundle, load, fasten".^[6][8] The noun is inherited from Middle English trusse, borrowed from Old French trousse, also torse and trusse, a noun formed from the verb.^{[2][6][3][7][9]} The origin of the French verb is disputed.^[6][3] Diez, followed by the Shorter Oxford, Dictionary.com and the American Heritage Dictionary, traced it to the late Latin participial stem of torqueō (“to twist”), perhaps through Vulgar Latin *torsō;^{[6][7][10][11]} Klein, Merriam-Webster and Collins derive it from Vulgar Latin *torciō (“to twist”), from *torca (“bundle, torch”), the source of torch.^[9][4][12] The OED finds the sense of the modern languages hard to square with this,^[6] and Skeat and Weekley suggested Latin thyrsus (“a stalk, staff”) instead.^[13][14] The French verb also gave trousseau, through the diminutive troussel.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, to load a pack-horse or ship with packs, and to bind or fasten: about 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[6] Barnhart dates both the verb and the noun to before 1200, in the same text,^[3] and Etymonline to about 1200, the noun meaning a wrapped bundle of clothing or a traveller's pack.^[2] The OED's first record of the noun, for a ship's tackle, is from 1296.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word began with packing: a truss was a bundle or pack, and to truss was to pack, to load with packs, and also to pack up for a journey and to take oneself off, senses that died out in the early 18th century except in Scots.^[6][7][2] From tying up bundles the verb passed to tying or binding generally, and in the mid 15th century to drawing close the laces with which hose were fastened to the doublet; hence trussed up meant "dressed" from the 1530s, and could also mean "hanged".^[2][6] The noun took several technical senses from the idea of something bound together: a fixed weight of hay or straw (1483),^[6] a large corbel in architecture (1519),^[6] a surgical support for a rupture (1543),^[6][2] and in 1654 a framework of timbers supporting a roof or bridge, the main sense today.^[6][3][2] Johnson (1755) put the surgical sense first and "bundle" second.^[15] In Scotland, Ireland and several English counties a truss of hay or straw was a fixed local weight,^[16] and in Yorkshire the word also named a heavy butcher's table.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – verb, to load with packs; to bind, fasten.^[6] Barnhart dates the verb and the noun to before 1200.^[3]
• 1296 – noun, a ship's tackle securing a yard to the mast.^[6]
• 1297 – verb, to pack up for a journey (obsolete by 1697).^[6]
• before 1300 – noun, a bundle or pack.^[6]
• c. 1300 – verb, to tie in a bundle, to pack.^[6]
• 1340 – verb, to bind or tie up the body or part of it; to gird.^[6]
• c. 1390 – verb, to take oneself off, depart (obsolete by 1721).^[6]
• 1483 – a bundle of hay or straw of fixed weight.^[6]
• 1519 – in architecture, a projection supporting a cornice.^[6]
• 1543 – a surgical support for a rupture.^[6][2]
• 1654 – a framework supporting a roof or bridge.^[6][3][2]
• 1688 – a compact cluster of flowers on one stalk.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rigid framework of beams, bars or rafters that supports a roof, bridge or other structure.^[12][7][6]
2. A surgical appliance, usually a padded belt, worn to hold a hernia in place.^[7][6][15]
3. A bundle or pack.^[4][7][6]
4. (British) A bundle of hay or straw of a fixed weight, for example 56 pounds of old hay.^[4][7]
5. In sailing ships, a fitting that secures a lower yard to the mast.^[4][7][6]
6. In architecture, a large corbel supporting a cornice.^[7][6]
7. In horticulture, a compact cluster of flowers on one stalk.^[7][6]

Verb

1. To tie up or bind tightly, often with up: The robbers trussed up the shopkeeper and fled.^[12][4]
2. To bind the wings and legs of a fowl before cooking.^[12][4]
3. To support or strengthen a roof, bridge or the like with a truss.^[12]
4. (informal) To confine the body in tight clothing.^[12][7]
5. In falconry, of a bird of prey, to seize its prey in its talons.^[12][7]
6. To force the staves of a barrel into shape with hoops.^[4][7]
7. (archaic) To pack into a bundle.^[4][7]
8. (obsolete, 1390–1721) To go away, be off.^[6][7]

Word family

• trusser
• untruss
• jack truss
• queen truss
• truss bridge
• truss rod

Related words

• trousseau
• torch
• torque

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)