Origin and history of trace

late 14c., tracen, "follow (a course); draw a line, draw or make an outline of something," also figurative; "ponder, investigate," from Old French tracier, traicier "look for, follow, pursue" (12c., Modern French tracer), from Vulgar Latin *tractiare "delineate, score, trace" (source also of Spanish trazar "to trace, devise, plan out," Italian tracciare "to follow by foot"), a frequentative form from Latin tractus "track, course," literally "a drawing out," from past participle stem of trahere "to pull, draw" (see tract (n.1)).

"The early sense development in OF. and ME. is not very clear" [OED, 1989]. The meaning "move along, pass over" (a path, etc.) is attested from c. 1400; that of "track down, follow the trail or scent or footsteps of" is by early 15c.

The meaning "copy a drawing on a transparent sheet laid over it" is recorded from 1762. As "ascertain the line of, make out or follow the course of with the eye or mind," by 1703. Related: Traced; tracing.

[track made by passage] mid-13c., "mark or sign left by the passage of something," c. 1300, from Old French trace "mark, imprint, tracks" (12c.), back-formation from tracier (see trace (v.)).

By c. 1300 specifically as "human track or trail, track left by an animal's movements;" by mid-14c. as "a footstep." As "beaten path through a wild region" by 1807. Traces "vestiges indicating a former presence" is by c. 1400.

The scientific sense of "indication of minute presence in some chemical compound" is from 1827. Hence trace (adj.) "present or required only in minute amounts" (1832).

[strap, chain] c. 1300, trais, "one of a pair of ropes by which a harnessed draft animal pulls a vehicle," from earlier collective plural trays, from Old French traiz, plural of trait "strap for harnessing, act of drawing," from Latin tractus "a drawing, track," from stem of trahere "to pull, draw" (see tract (n.1)). Related: Traces.