drug English · revision 2806

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=1327}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /drʌɡ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|drogge]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|drogue]], droge “supply, stock, provision”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) which is of uncertain or unknown origin.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) It may come from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German droge-vate “dry barrels”, or droge waere “dry wares”, with the first element taken for the name of the contents,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) or because medicines were mostly dried herbs;^(Etymonline) droge is the source of [[dry]].^(Barnhart 1988) Italian and Spanish droga and Swedish drog have the same source.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An original medicinal substance: 1327 in the OED,^(OED 1989) the early 14th century in Anglo-French and the late 14th in English,^(Etymonline) about 1387–95 in Chaucer's General Prologue in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 14th and 15th centuries drogge was confused with dragge, a spice mixture.^(Barnhart 1988) The word was linked with poisons from the 1500s,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and the specific application to narcotics and opiates is from the 1880s (1883 in the OED).^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) The phrase ''a drug on the market'', a thing that has lost its value, is from the mid-17th century;^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) its connection is doubtful, and it may be a different word, perhaps a play on drag, sometimes written drug from about 1240 to 1800.^(Etymonline) The verb, “to mix with a drug, especially a poison”, is from 1605, in Shakespeare's ''Macbeth'',^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) and “to dose a person with drugs, especially to stupefy them” from 1730.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) ''Druggist'' is from 1611, ''drugstore'' is American English from 1810,^(Barnhart 1988) and ''druggie'' is by 1968.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1327 – a medicinal substance.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1500s – associated with poisons.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1605 – verb, to mix with a drug.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1611 – ''druggist''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * mid-17th century – ''a drug on the market''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1730 – verb, to dose with drugs.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1810 – ''drugstore''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1883 – a narcotic.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A substance used as a [[medicine]] or in making medicines.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A substance taken for its effect on the mind, especially an illegal or [[addiction|alt=addictive]] one, such as a [[narcotic]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # Something no longer wanted: ''a drug on the market''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To give a drug to, especially to make unconscious.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To add a drug to food or drink.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[druggist]]

+ * [[drugstore]]

+ * [[dry]]

+ * [[drogue]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate dialect noun ''drug'', a low truck for carrying timber, from the 17th century, is related to the old verb ''drug'', “to drag”.^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}