Etymology
1. O.E.
dragan "to drag, to draw" (class VI strong verb; past tense
drog, pp.
dragen), from P.Gmc.
*draganan "carry," from PIE base
*dhragh- (see drag). Sense of "make a line or figure" (by "drawing" a pencil across paper) is c.1200. Meaning "pull out a weapon" is c.1200. Colloquial n. sense of "anything that can draw a crowd" is from 1881 (the verb in this sense is 1586). To
draw a criminal (drag him from a horse to place of execution) is from c.1330. To
draw a blank "come up with nothing" (1825) is an allusion to a lottery.
Drawback "hindrance, disadvantage" is from 1720;
drawbridge is 14c. A
drawer (1580) is a box that can be "drawn" out of a cabinet;
drawers (1567) are garments that are pulled on.
Drawing room (1642) is short for
withdrawing room, into which ladies would go after dinner.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ-
4. Proto-Indo-European *dʰrógʰ-e-ti
5. Proto-Germanic *draganą
6. Proto-West Germanic *dragan
7. Old English dragan
8. Middle English drawen
9. English draw
10. The verb is derived from Middle English dragen, draghen, draue, drauen, drauhen, drawe, drawen, draȝe, draȝen, draȝhenn (“to drag, pull; to draw (out); to attract; to entice, lure; to lead; to make a drawing; to move, travel; etc.”), from Old English dragan (“to drag, draw”), from Proto-West Germanic *dragan (“to carry, haul”), from Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to carry, draw, pull”); further etymology uncertain, often said to be from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull, run”), but possibly from a non-Indo-European substrate root which is also the source of Latin trahō (“to pull, draw; etc.”). Doublet of drag and draught.
11. The noun is derived from Middle English drau, draue (“action of shooting with a bow”), from drauen, drawen (verb).
12. Cognates
13. Cognate with North Frisian drai, dreeg, dreege (“to carry; to wear”), West Frisian drage (“to carry”), Central Franconian draan, drage, droon (“to bear, carry”), Dutch dragen (“to carry; to wear; to transfer”), German tragen (“to bear, carry; to wear; to support”), Low German dregen (“to carry, take”), Luxembourgish droen (“to carry; to hold, support; to wear; to travel; to fruit”), Yiddish טראָגן (trogn, “to carry, to wear; to be pregnant”), Zealandic draege, draoge (“to carry”), Danish drage (“to draw”), Elfdalian drågå (“to drag, draw, pull”), Faroese and Icelandic draga (“to drag, draw, pull”), Gutnish dräga (“to pull”), Norwegian Bokmål dra, drage (“to drag, draw, pull”), Norwegian Nynorsk dra, draga, drage, drågå, dråggå (“to drag, pull; to leave”), Swedish dra, draga (“to draw, pull; to consume; to leave; to run; to steep”), Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (dragan, “to carry, draw, pull”); also Old Irish droch (“wheel; circlet”), Latin tragō, trahō (“to drag, pull; to trail; to extract; to plunder; to draw out; to protract; to consider, ponder, weigh”), Greek τρέχω (trécho, “to run; to flee; to flow; to execute”), Russian дро́га (dróga, “rail or perch in a cart”), Armenian դուրգ (durg, “to potter’s wheel”). See: Old English '
dragan', Proto-Germanic '
*draganą', Latin '
trahō', Dutch '
dragen', German, old spelling '
tragen', Low Saxon 'dregen', Luxembourgish '
droen', Danish '
drage', Elfdalian '
drågå', Norwegian '
dra', Norwegian, nynorsk '
dra', Swedish '
dra', Latin '
tragō', Greek '
τρέχω'.
Verbs referencing "draw"
Danish
drage, German, old spelling
tragen, Norwegian
dra, Luxembourgish
droen.