English
trash
Trash comes from Middle English trasch, probably a dialectal form of *trass, perhaps from Old Norse tros ‘rubbish, fallen twigs’.
- Old Norsec. 800–1350tros‘rubbish, fallen twigs’uncertain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*trassuncertain
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500trasch‘refuse, rubbish’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1613trash
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Norsec. 800–1350tros‘rubbish, fallen twigs’uncertain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*trassuncertain
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500trasch‘refuse, rubbish’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1613trash
Earliest quotation: c. 1613, The Tragedie of Bonduca: “I fled too; But not so fast , —your…”
The story
From Middle English trasch, trassh, probably a dialectal form of *trass (compare Orkney truss, English dialectal trous), from Old Norse tros (‘rubbish, fallen leaves and twigs’), perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *þrakjaz (‘dirt’). Pokorny instead derives it from Proto-Indo-European *dóru (‘tree’).
Every English word from Old Norse tros
Today it means
noun Useless physical things to be discarded; rubbish; refuse.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Norse tros / trash