Etymology

dretch

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Today it means: To vex; grill; trouble; oppress. Full definition →

Middle English dretchen ← Old English dreċċan ← Proto-West Germanic *drakkjan
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dretch · verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰrag-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*drakjaną“to torment”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*drakkjan
  4. Old English · inherited fromdreċċan“to vex, irritate, trouble, torment, torture, oppress, afflict”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromdretchen
  6. English todaydretch

From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English dreċċan (“to vex, irritate, trouble, torment, torture, oppress, afflict”), from Proto-West Germanic *drakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną (“to torment”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrag-, *dʰragʰ- (“to bother, torment”). Cognate with Russian раздража́ть (razdražátʹ, “to irritate”), Sanskrit द्राघते (drāghate, “to exert oneself, be tired, torment”).

dretch · verb, noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰreǵ-“to pull, drag, scratch”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*drakjaną“to draw, pull”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*drakkjan
  4. Old English · inherited from*dreċċan“to draw out, delay, linger”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromdretchen
  6. English todaydretch

From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English *dreċċan (“to draw out, delay, linger”), from Proto-West Germanic *drakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną (“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreǵ- (“to pull, drag, scratch”). Cognate with Scots dratch, dretch (“to dawdle”), Dutch trekken (“to draw, pull, tear, pluck, trek”), German trecken (“to draw, trek”), Danish trække (“to draw, pull”), Norwegian dråk (“stripe”), Swedish dialectal drakig (“striped, streaked”), Icelandic rák (“streak”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.