English
trowel
Trowel comes from Latin trulla ‘small ladle or scoop’, and goes back to trua.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrua‘ladle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrulla‘small ladle or scoop’diminutive of trua
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtruella
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600truelle
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trowell
- Englishearliest quotation 1980trowel
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrua‘ladle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrulla‘small ladle or scoop’diminutive of trua
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtruella
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600truelle
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trowell
- Englishearliest quotation 1980trowel
Earliest quotation: 1980, Robert M. Jones, Walls and Ceilings: “Most finish coats are troweled smooth, but sometimes you…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- ‘to turn’
torture, queer, torch, torque, tart, torment, extortion, tort, thwart, torsion, 25 more
Today it means
noun A mason’s tool, used in spreading and dressing mortar, and breaking bricks to shape them.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin trua / trowel