English
tractile
Tractile comes from Late Latin tractilis ‘that can be dragged or pulled’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- ‘to run, to drag, to pull’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰregʰ-‘to run, to drag, to pull’root as named
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtractilis‘that can be dragged or pulled’
- Englishearliest quotation 1607tractile
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰregʰ-‘to run, to drag, to pull’root as named
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtractilis‘that can be dragged or pulled’
- Englishearliest quotation 1607tractile
Earliest quotation: 1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Of the dormouse: “Becauſe it [the dormouse] dravveth the hinder legges after…”
The story
Learned borrowing from Late Latin tractilis (‘that can be dragged or pulled’) + English -ile (suffix meaning ‘capable of; tending to’). Tractilis is derived from Latin tractus + -ilis (suffix forming adjectives from the perfect passive participles of verbs); and tractus is the perfect passive participle of trahō (‘to drag, pull; to draw out, extend, lengthen, prolong’), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (‘to drag, pull; to run’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- ‘to run, to drag, to pull’
draw, train, draft, drag, retreat, portrait, attractive, attraction, distraction, extraction, draught, contraction, abstraction, retract, subtraction, entreat, abstractly, 48 more
Today it means
adj Capable of being drawn or stretched out in length.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- / tractile