travel

travel · verb¹

1. Old French · derived fromtravailler“to trouble, suffer, be worn out”
2. Middle Scots · derived fromtravailen“to toil, work, travel”
3. Middle English · inherited fromtravelen“to make a laborious journey, travel”
4. English todaytravel

PIE word *tréyes From Middle English travelen (“to make a laborious journey, travel”) from Middle Scots travailen (“to toil, work, travel”), alteration of Middle English travaillen (“to toil, work”), from Old French travailler (“to trouble, suffer, be worn out”). See the doublets travail and travois. Compare typologically routine << Latin rupta via. Note the inverse semantic vectors: travel moves from a subjective state (toil) to an objective action (journey), while routine moves from an objective object (beaten path) to a subjective pattern (habit). Largely displaced native fare, from Old English faran (“to go [a long distance], to travel”). More at fare.

travel · noun²

1. Old French · derived fromtravail
2. Middle English · inherited fromtravail
3. English todaytravel

From Middle English travail, travell, from Old French travail, travaille, travaillie, traval, travalle, traveaul, traveil, traveille, travel. Doublet of travail.

Words from the same roots