dreary

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰrews-“to break, break off, crumble”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*dreuzagaz“bloody”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*dreuʀag
4. Old English · inherited fromdrēoriġ“sad”
5. Middle English · inherited fromdrery
6. English todaydreary

From Middle English drery, from Old English drēoriġ (“sad”), from Proto-West Germanic *dreuʀag, from Proto-Germanic *dreuzagaz (“bloody”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrews- (“to break, break off, crumble”), equivalent to drear + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian trurich (“sad, dreary”), West Frisian treurich (“sad, dreary”), Dutch treurig (“sad, gloomy”), Low German trurig (“sad”), German traurig (“sad, sorrowful, mournful”), Old Norse dreyrugr, dreyrigr (“bloody, gory”), whence Icelandic dreyrugur (“bloody”). Related to Old English drēor (“blood, falling blood”), Old English drysmian (“to become gloomy”).