English
truncheon
Truncheon comes from Old French tronchon ‘thick stick’, and goes back to Latin truncus ‘tree trunk’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtruncus‘tree trunk’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CE*troncionemreconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400tronchon‘thick stick’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tronchoun‘a truncheon’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590truncheon
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtruncus‘tree trunk’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CE*troncionemreconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400tronchon‘thick stick’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tronchoun‘a truncheon’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590truncheon
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto VIII: “with his troncheon he so rudely stroke / Cymochles…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- ‘to cut’
sarcasm, sarcastic, sarcoma, retrenchment, trenchant, 15 more
through Latin truncus ‘tree trunk’
Today it means
noun A short staff, a club; a cudgel.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin truncus / truncheon