Etymology
1. O.E.
þrescan, þerscan "to beat, sift grain by trampling or beating," from P.Gmc.
*threskanan "to thresh," originally "to tread, to stamp noisily" (cf. M.Du.
derschen, Du.
dorschen, O.H.G.
dreskan, Ger.
dreschen, O.N.
þreskja, Goth.
þriskan), from PIE base
*tere- "to rub, turn" (see throw). The basic notion is of treading out wheat under foot of men or oxen, later, with the advent of the flail, the word acquired its modern extended sense of "to knock, beat, strike." The original Gmc. sense is suggested by the use of the word in Romanic languages that borrowed it, e.g. It.
trescare "to prance," O.Fr.
treschier "to dance," Sp.
triscar "to stamp the feet." The
thresher shark (1609) so called for its long upper tail shape.
2. From Middle English thrasshen, thresche, threschen, threschyn, threshen, thresshen, tressyn, þreisshe, þresshe, from Old English þerscan, þrexan, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną (“to thresh; to tread”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn; to drill, pierce”). Doublet of thrash.
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Dutch dorsen (“to thresh; to thrash”), German and Luxembourgish dreschen (“to thresh; to thrash”), Yiddish דרעשן (dreshn, “to thresh”), Danish tærske (“to thresh”), Faroese treskja (“to thresh”), Icelandic þreskja (“to thresh”), Norwegian Nynorsk treska, treske, treskja, treskje (“to thrash”), Swedish tröska (“to thresh”), Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌹𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌽 (þriskan, “to thresh”), Finnish rehkiä (“to drudge; to toil”); also Welsh taradr (“auger, wimble; awl, borer; drill”), Latin terō (“to rub or triturate; to wear away or wear out, consume; to tread; to press with a mill; to pass, spend”), Greek τρίβω (trívo, “to grate; to rub”), Albanian tjerr (“to spin”), Belarusian це́рці (cjérci, “to rub; to polish; to pinch; to grind”), Bulgarian три́я (tríja, “to rub; to chafe; to grind”), Czech třít (“to rub; to spawn”), Polish tarć, treć, trzeć, trzyć (“to rub; to shred; to cut; to chafe; to crush; to spawn”), Russian тере́ть (terétʹ, “to rub; to polish; to grind”), Serbo-Croatian тр̏ти, tȑti (“to rub; to cause friction; to scour; to break, crush”), Slovak trieť (“to rub”), Slovene treti (“to crack open; to rub”), Ukrainian те́рти (térty, “to rub; to scrub”), Armenian թուր (tʻur, “sword”), Sogdian ܕܣܦܪܛܪ (dsprtr, “hand towel”), Hittite 𒋻𒌑𒍣 (tar-ú-zi, “to perform a round dance, to dance in twisting manner”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B tärk- (“to allow, let; to let go”), Sanskrit तर्कु (tarku, “spindle”). See: Old English '
þerscan', Proto-Germanic '
*þreskaną', Dutch '
dorsen', Danish '
tærske', Faroese '
treskja', Icelandic '
þreskja', Norwegian, nynorsk '
treska', Swedish '
tröska', Finnish with old forms '
rehkiä', Latin '
terō', Greek '
τρίβω', Bulgarian '
три́я', Czech '
třít', Russian '
тере́ть', Slovak '
trieť', Slovene '
treti', Ukrainian '
те́рти', Armenian '
թուր'.
Verbs referencing "thresh"
German, old spelling
dreschen, Luxembourgish
dreschen, Norwegian, nynorsk
treskja, Cimbrian drèssalan, Norwegian, nynorsk
treskje.