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þrýsta

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Etymology and origin of the Old Norse word þrýsta

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200–1225 AM 619 4to More words from the 12th century
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Old Norse þrýsta
English thrust

Forms

þrýsta v (past tense þrýsta, past participle þrýstr), weak verb, with the dative[1][2]

Etymology

De Vries derives it from a Proto-Norse verb in ⟨-st-⟩ made to the root of þrjóta,[3] and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon also thinks it probably related to that verb.[4] Orel sets þrjóta beside Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌸𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍄𐌰𐌽 (usþriutan, “to bother, persecute”) and Old English ðrēotan (“to weary”) and relates them to Latin trūdō (“to push”).[5] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon compares Old English geðryscan (“to bend, oppress”).[4] Etymonline gives Proto-Germanic *thrustijanan and Watkins's root Proto-Indo-European *treud- (“to push, press”), but notes the OED's doubt about that derivation.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota first records it as þryſti in AM 619 4to, dated 1200–1225, and as þrysti in DG 8 II (1225–1250).[7][8] Cleasby and Vigfússon quote the physical sense from the sagas: þá tók Hrærekr konungr á öxl honum hendinni ok þrýsti “then King Hrœrekr took hold of his shoulder with his hand and pressed”.[9]

Semantic evolution

From pressing with the hand or knee the verb came to mean pressing hard on someone, urging and compelling, and to oppress or restrict: at sumri þrýstu bœndr saman ríki Eiríks “in summer the farmers hemmed in Eiríkr's power”.[10][11][1] Hertzberg records its use in the laws for driving someone on and for pressing a person hard with persuasion.[12] In the poetry þrýsta þorns niðjum “to crush the giants” means to kill them.[13]

The verb continues as Icelandic þrýsta, Faroese trýsta, Norwegian and Swedish dialect trysta and Danish tryste, with the derived noun þrýsting.[3][4] English thrust is taken from it by de Vries, after Björkman, and by Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon,[3][4] while Etymonline dates the English verb to about 1200 and calls the source “akin to” it.[6]

Timeline

  • 1200–1225 – þryſti in AM 619 4to.[7]
  • 1225–1250 – þrysti in DG 8 II.[8]
  • c. 1200 – Middle English thristen, thruste “to push, shove”.[6]
  • 1270–1280 – the participle þrystandum in AM 243 bα fol.[14]
  • 1290–1310 – þryster in Holm perg 17 4to.[15]
  • 1661 – þrýsta in IcePaHC's first text with the word.[16]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to press or thrust (with the hand, the knee, the feet in the stirrups).[1][9][11]
  2. to compress or squeeze; figuratively to oppress, crush or restrict.[10][11][17]
  3. (þrýsta at e-m) to press hard on someone, beset or urge them.[1][11][12]
  4. (þrýsta e-m til e-s) to force or compel someone to something.[1][2]

Word family

  • þrýsting

Descendants

  • þrjóta
  • þraut

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. þrýsta
  2. ^ a b Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 482
  3. ^ a b c d e f g de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 624
  4. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. þrýsta
  5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 426
  6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
  8. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 8 II
  9. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 747
  10. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. þrýsta
  11. ^ a b c d Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 785
  12. ^ a b Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 747
  13. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 649
  14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 243 bα fol
  15. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 17 4to
  16. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
  17. ^ Faulkes, Anthony (2011), A New Introduction to Old Norse III: Glossary and Index of Names, 4th ed., London: Viking Society for Northern Research, p. s.v. þrýsta
Cite this entry

“Þrýsta.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/non/%C3%BEr%C3%BDsta. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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