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Origin and history of thresh

thresh(v.)

the earlier form of thrash, kept in reference to separating grain or seed from chaff and some figurative senses, Middle English threshen, from Old English þrescan, þerscan, "to beat, sift grain by trampling or beating," from Proto-Germanic *threskan "to thresh," originally "to tread, to stamp noisily" (source also of Middle Dutch derschen, Dutch dorschen, Old High German dreskan, German dreschen, Old Norse þreskja, Swedish tröska, Gothic þriskan). This is reconstructed in Watkins to be from PIE root *tere- (1) "to rub, turn."

The notion is of men or oxen treading out wheat; later, with the advent of the flail, the word acquired its modern extended sense of "to knock, beat, strike" (late 12c.); "defeat" (c. 1200).

The original Germanic sense is suggested by the use of the word in Romanic languages that borrowed it, such as Italian trescare "to prance," Old French treschier "to dance," Spanish triscar "stamp the feet." For metathesis of -r- and vowel, see wright.

As a noun, "threshed grain, straw," mid-15c. Threshing-floor "area on which grain is beaten out" is from late 14c.

Entries linking to thresh

thrash(v.)

1580s, "to separate grains from wheat, etc., by beating," a dialectal variant of threshen (see thresh) which in modern use has taken most of its secondary senses.

The sense of "beat (someone) with (or as if with) a flail" is recorded by 1620s. The meaning "make wild movements" like those of a flail or whip is attested from 1846. Related: Thrashed; thrashing.

As a noun from 1660s, "threshing tool;" 1840s as "a beating;" 1982 as the name for a type of fast heavy metal music. Verbal noun thrashing "a beating" with or as with a flail is attested from late 14c.

wright(n.)

"an artificer;" Middle English, "a carpenter," also "a builder, architect;" from Old English wryhta, wrihta (Northumbrian wyrchta, Kentish werhta) "worker," a variant of earlier wyhrta "maker," from wyrcan "to work" (see work (v.)).

A common West Germanic word (Old Saxon wurhito, Old Frisian wrichta, Old High German wurhto), in Modern English preserved mostly in combinations (wheelwright, playwright, etc.) or surnames (Wright, Wainwright, Cartwright, all 13c.).

The metathesis of an -r- and a vowel in words from Old English also can be seen in thrash, thresh, third, thirty, bird, wrought, and nostril.

Smith was the general term for a worker in metals, and wright for one who worked in wood, and other materials. Hence, in the later English period, smith (which, in Anglo-Saxon, when used without any characteristic addition, was understood as applying more particularly to the worker in iron,) became the particular name of a blacksmith, and wright of a carpenter, as it is still in Scotland. [Thomas Wright, "Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies," 1884]

Related: Wrightry "carpentry; business of a carpenter" (mid-15c.). Middle English combinations also included battle-wright "warrior," bread-wright "baker," leth-wright "professional poet" (Old English leoþ-wyrhta).