English
triage
Triage comes from French triage, from trier ‘to sort’, and ultimately from Latin trītus ‘rubbed, triturated’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrītus‘rubbed, triturated’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtrītāre‘to grind’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400trier‘to choose, pick out or separate from others, sift, cull’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600trier
- Frenchc. 1600–presenttrier‘to sort’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presenttriage
- Englishearliest quotation 1943triage
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrītus‘rubbed, triturated’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtrītāre‘to grind’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400trier‘to choose, pick out or separate from others, sift, cull’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600trier
- Frenchc. 1600–presenttrier‘to sort’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presenttriage
- Englishearliest quotation 1943triage
Earliest quotation: 1943, and October, Military and Civil Railways: “Similarly, any group of sidings is known to army…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, turn’
turn, throw, tournament, thread, threshold, tragic, trout, tyrone, detrimental, detour, thrash, tourney, detriment, attrition, termite, tourniquet, tribulation, thresher, detritus, tyro, thresh, truant, contrite, derma, 40 more
through Latin trītus ‘rubbed, triturated’
through Old French trier ‘to choose, pick out or separate from others,…’
Today it means
noun Assessment or sorting according to quality, need, etc., especially to determine how resources will be allocated.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin trītus / triage