Etymograph

English

trigger

Trigger comes from Dutch trekker ‘pull’, from Proto-West Germanic *trakkjan ‘to drag’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dreg- ‘to pull’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dreg-‘to pull’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trekaną‘to drag’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trakjaną‘to drag’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*trakkjan‘to drag’reconstructed
  5. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*treckenreconstructed
  6. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500trecken‘to pull or draw to oneself’
  7. Dutchc. 1500–presenttrekken‘to drag, draw, pull’
  8. Dutch, derivedc. 1500–presenttrekker‘pull’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1659trigger

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dreg-‘to pull’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trekaną‘to drag’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trakjaną‘to drag’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*trakkjan‘to drag’reconstructed
  5. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*treckenreconstructed
  6. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500trecken‘to pull or draw to oneself’
  7. Dutchc. 1500–presenttrekken‘to drag, draw, pull’
  8. Dutch, derivedc. 1500–presenttrekker‘pull’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1659trigger

Earliest quotation: 1659, Robert Boyle, [Experiment 14]: “[W]e pull'd aſide the Tricker, and obſerv'd, that according…”

Linked words

through Dutch trekken ‘to drag, draw, pull’

trek

Today it means

noun A finger-operated lever used to fire a gun.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dreg- / trigger

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