Etymograph

English

drug

Drug comes from Middle English drogge, from Middle French drogue, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German droge (as in droge vate ‘dry barrels’).

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰer-‘to hold fast’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰerǵʰ-‘to strengthen; become hard’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*draugiz‘dry, hard’reconstructed
  4. Old Dutchc. 500–1150drōgi‘dry’reconstructed
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500drōghe‘dry’
  6. Middle Dutch, derivedc. 1150–1500drogeuncertain
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600drogue
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500drogge‘medicine’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1610drug

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰer-‘to hold fast’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰerǵʰ-‘to strengthen; become hard’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*draugiz‘dry, hard’reconstructed
  4. Old Dutchc. 500–1150drōgi‘dry’reconstructed
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500drōghe‘dry’
  6. Middle Dutch, derivedc. 1150–1500drogeuncertain
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600drogue
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500drogge‘medicine’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1610drug

Earliest quotation: 1610, Ben[jamin] Jonson: “Past all the doses of your drugging doctors”.

The story

Droge comes from Middle Dutch drōghe (‘dry’), from Old Dutch drōgi (‘dry’), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (‘dry, hard’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (‘to strengthen; become hard or solid’), from *dʰer- (‘to hold, hold fast, support’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- ‘to hold, hold fast, support’

dark, firm, drama, dare, dry, throne, feasible, drone, formidable, refrain, darn, drastic, dharma, dazed, dor, dern, 42 more

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- ‘to strengthen’

dream, fraud, drainage, drudge, truculent, 16 more

through Proto-Germanic *draugiz ‘hard, solid’

drain, 3 more

Today it means

noun A substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- / drug

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