Etymograph

English

threat

Threat comes from Middle English threte, from Old English þrēat ‘crowd, troop; oppression, threat’, from Proto-Germanic *þrautaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þrautazreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150þrēat‘crowd’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500threte
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1599threat

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þrautazreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150þrēat‘crowd’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500threte
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1599threat

Earliest quotation: 1599, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar: “There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats.”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *þrautaz

Another origin of threat

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*trewd-‘to squeeze, push, press’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150þrēatian‘to press, oppress, repress, correct, threaten’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500threten
  4. Englishtodaythreat

Today it means

noun An expression of intent to injure or punish another.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *þrautaz / threat

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