threshold English · revision 10438

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=c. 888}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈθɹɛʃəʊld/, /ˈθɹɛʃˌhəʊld/ ''(UK)''; /ˈθɹɛ.ʃoʊld/, /ˈθɹɛʃ.hoʊld/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English thresshewold, [[inh|ang|þrescold|t=doorsill, point of entering]], þerscwald,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) a word of uncertain origin, probably much altered by folk etymology.^(Etymonline) The first element is related to Old English þrescan, to thresh (see [[thresh]]), perhaps in an older sense, to tread, trample;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) the second is unexplained,^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) and was probably altered to look like [[hold]].^(Etymonline) Liberman revives a theory that it is the Proto-Germanic instrumental suffix *-thlo, and that a threshold was originally a threshing area next to the living area of a house.^(Etymonline) Cognates include Old Norse þreskjǫldr and Swedish tröskel.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The piece of timber or stone below a door; also a border or limit, the line crossed on entering: about 888, in Alfred's translation of Boethius.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The figurative use, the border or beginning of a region, was already in Old English, and later the beginning of a state or condition, as of manhood or victory.^(Etymonline) The American Heritage note connects the treading sense of thresh with the custom of carrying a bride over the threshold.^(AHD) In psychology the point at which a stimulus is just perceived is first recorded in James Sully's ''Sensation and Intuition'' (1874).^(Barnhart 1988) The level at which something takes effect, as a tax threshold, is a later general sense.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 888 – a doorsill; a limit.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1376 – thresshewold.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1874 – a sensory threshold.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A piece of wood or stone placed beneath a door; a doorsill.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # An entrance or doorway.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The point of beginning: ''on the threshold of a career''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The level at which a stimulus is just strong enough to produce an effect or response.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[subthreshold]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[thresh]]

+ * [[sill]]

+ * [[doorstep]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}