English
thorough
Thorough comes from Old English þurh ‘through’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *þurhw.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þurhw‘through’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150þurh‘through’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150þuruhbyform of þurh
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thoruȝ
- Englishearliest quotation 1590thorough
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þurhw‘through’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150þurh‘through’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150þuruhbyform of þurh
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thoruȝ
- Englishearliest quotation 1590thorough
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XII: “Ye might haue ſeene the frothy billowes fry Vnder…”
The story
The adjective derives from the preposition and adverb. The word developed a syllabic form in cases where the word was fully stressed: when it was used as an adverb, adjective, or noun, and less commonly when used as a preposition.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- ‘to pass through’
enter, trans, avatar, tram, tranquillity, tardy, torus, très, sarai, 19 more
through Proto-Germanic *þurhw ‘through’
through Old English þurh ‘through’
Today it means
adj Painstaking and careful not to miss or omit any detail.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *þurhw / thorough