Etymograph

English

tray

Tray comes from Middle English trey ‘a tray’, from Proto-Germanic *trawją ‘wooden vessel’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *drewo- ‘tree’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*drewo-‘tree’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trawją‘wooden vessel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*trauwireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150trēġ‘wooden board, tray’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trey‘a tray’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1963tray

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*drewo-‘tree’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trawją‘wooden vessel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*trauwireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150trēġ‘wooden board, tray’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trey‘a tray’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1963tray

Earliest quotation: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “Now that she had rested and had fed from…”

Linked words

through Middle English trey ‘a tray’

trey

Today it means

noun A small, typically rectangular or round, flat, and rigid object upon which things are carried.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *drewo- / tray

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