English
thrash
Thrash comes from Old English þerscan ‘to thresh’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *þreskaną.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þreskaną‘to thresh’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150þerscan‘to thresh’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thrasshen
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1690thrash
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þreskaną‘to thresh’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150þerscan‘to thresh’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thrasshen
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1690thrash
Earliest quotation: c. 1690, Juvenal, The Tenth Satire of Juvenal: “I rather would be Maevius, thrash for rhymes, /…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, turn’
turn, tournament, throw, thread, tragic, trout, detrimental, tyrone, detriment, detour, attrition, tourney, triage, trite, termite, tribulation, detritus, tourniquet, truant, tyro, derma, 40 more
through Proto-Germanic *þreskaną ‘to thresh’
threshold, threshing, thresher
through Middle English thrasshen
Today it means
verb To beat mercilessly.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *þreskaną / thrash