threat English · revision 4327

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=a. 800|origins=ine-pro *trewd-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /θret/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|thret]], threte, Northern thrat,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|þrēat|t=crowd, troop; oppression, coercion, menace]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) related to Old English þrēotan “to trouble, weary”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from Proto-Germanic *thrautam,^(Etymonline) also the source of Dutch verdrieten and German verdrießen “to vex”,^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) Old High German driozan “to vex”, Old Norse þraut “struggle, labour” and Gothic usþriutan “to trouble”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) According to Watkins it is from [[ine-pro|*trewd-|alt=*treud-|t=to push, press, squeeze]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the source also of Latin trūdere “to push, thrust”,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) the source of [[intrude]], and Old Church Slavonic trudŭ “oppression”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A throng, crowd or troop of people, and painful pressure, oppression: before 800 in the OED,^(OED 1989) both senses now obsolete.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Barnhart dates thrēat to about 725, in Beowulf.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense of a declaration of hostile intention was already in Old English,^(Etymonline) about 1000 in the OED.^(OED 1989) In Middle English it was especially a verbal menace.^(Etymonline) The old senses “crowd” and “oppression” died out.^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) The verb ''threat'', from Old English þrēatian, was superseded by [[threaten]], from Old English þrēatnian,^(Hoad 1986) and survives as an archaism and in Scottish and dialect use.^(SOED 2002)^(Wright 1898) An indication of coming danger, and a person or thing seen as a possible danger, came later.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) In zoology, threat behaviour that keeps other animals at a distance is from 1933.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – a troop; oppression.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1000 – a menace, threat.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1933 – threat behaviour in animals.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A statement of an intention to cause [[pain]], [[injury]] or harm.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A sign of coming [[danger]] or harm.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A person or thing regarded as a possible danger; a [[menace]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(archaic)'' To threaten.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[counterthreat]]

+ * [[triple threat]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[threaten]]

+ * [[threatening]]

+ * [[intrude]]

+ * [[abstruse]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}