Etymology
1. O.E.
treo, treow "tree" (also "wood"), from P.Gmc.
*trewan (cf. O.Fris.
tre, O.S.
trio, O.N.
tre, Goth.
triu), from PIE
*deru-/*doru- "oak" (cf. Skt.
dru "tree, wood,"
daru "wood, log;" Gk.
drys "oak,"
doru "spear;" O.C.S.
drievo "tree, wood;" Serb.
drvo "tree,"
drva "wood;" Rus.
drevo "tree, wood;" Czech
drva; Pol.
drwa "wood;" Lith.
derva "pine wood;" O.Ir.
daur, Welsh
derwen "oak," Albanian
drusk "oak"). Importance of the oak in mythology is reflected in the recurring use of words for "oak" to mean "tree." In O.E. and M.E., also "thing made of wood," especially the cross of the Crucifixion and a gallows (cf.
Tyburn tree, gallows mentioned 12c. at Tyburn, at junction of Oxford Street and Edgware Road, place of public execution for Middlesex until 1783). Sense in
family tree first attested 1706; verb meaning "to chase up a tree" is from 1700.
Tree-hugger, contemptuous for "environmentalist" is attested by 1989.
"Minc'd Pyes do not grow upon every tree,
But search the Ovens for them, and there they be."
["Poor Robin," Almanack, 1669]
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *drew-
4. Proto-Indo-European *-om
5. Proto-Germanic *trewą
6. Proto-West Germanic *treu
7. Old English trēow
8. Middle English tre
9. English tree
10. PIE word
11. *dóru
12. From Middle English trau, tre, tree, treo, treou, trew, trewe, troe, trouȝh, trouȝgh, trow, trowe, from Old English trēo, trēow, trēu, trīo, trīow, trȳw (“tree; wood; forest; beam, cudgel, log; cross”), from Proto-West Germanic *treu, from Proto-Germanic *trewą (“tree”), from pre-Germanic *dréwom, thematic e-grade derivative of Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”). Related to tar, true.
13. Cognates
14. Cognate with Dutch teer (“tree”), Danish, Faroese, and Scanian træ (“tree; timber, wood”), Elfdalian trai (“tree; timber, wood”), Icelandic tré (“tree; wood”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk tre (“tree; wood”), Swedish trä (“wood; tree”), träd (“tree”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌿 (triu, “piece of wood”); also Breton derv (“oak”), Cornish dar (“oak”), Irish dair (“oak”), Manx darragh (“oak; oaken”), Scottish Gaelic darach (“oak”), Welsh dâr (“oak”), Ancient Greek δόρυ (dóru, “tree; wood; spear”) (whence Greek δόρυ (dóry, “pike, spear”)), Albanian dru (“tree; wood”), Latvian darva (“tar”), Lithuanian derva (“tar; resin”), Belarusian дзе́рава (dzjérava, “tree”), дрэ́ва (dréva, “tree; wood”), Czech drvo, dřevo (“wood”), Polish drzewo (“tree; wood”), Russian де́рево (dérevo), дре́во (drévo, “tree; wood”), Serbo-Croatian др̏во, drȇvo, drijȇvo, drȋvo, dȑvo (“tree; wood”), Slovak and Slovene drevo (“tree; wood”), Ukrainian де́рево (dérevo, “tree; wood”), Armenian տարր (tarr, “element; component”), Avestan 𐬛𐬁𐬎𐬭𐬎 (dāᵘru, “wood”), Central Kurdish and Persian دار (dâr, “tree; wood”), Northern Kurdish dar (“tree”), Zazaki dare (“tree”), Hittite 𒋫𒊒 (taru), 𒋫𒀀𒊒 (táru, “tree; wood”), Luwian 𒋫𒀀𒊒 (tāru, “wood”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B or (“wood”), Sanskrit दारु (dāru, “timber, wood”).
15. Replaced alternative Middle English beem, from Old English bēam (see beam) and eclipsed non-native Middle English arbre, borrowed from Old French arbre. See: Swedish '
trä', Cornish '
dar'.