An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/drehen

by Friedrich Kluge

drehen, verb, ‘to turn, whirl, wind,’ from Middle High German drœjen, drœn, ‘to turn, turn round,’ Old High German drâjan. The Gothic form may have been þ aian (compare wehen, Gothic waian; säen, Gothic saian); compare Dutch draaijen, ‘to turn (on a lathe)’; Anglo-Saxon þrâwan (compare sâwan, wâwan), and Middle English þrâwen, ‘to turn,’ are strong verbs, while the Modern High German verb is weak even in Old High German. The assumed Gothic form *þraian, ‘to turn,’ was undoubtedly conjugated strong (preterite *þaíþrô). þrê is the verbal stem common to Teutonic, from which a substantive, Draht, meaning ‘twisted thread,’ was formed by adding a dental suffix. This substantive proves most clearly that the root of drehen did not end in a guttural, and that therefore Modern High German Drechsler, from Old High German drâhsil, cannot be allied to drehen. In Modern English, to throw (‘to turn’), is obsolete. The root þrê is from pre-Teutonic trê, ter; this appears in Greek, with the meaning ‘to bore,’ in numerous derivatives. ‘To bore’ is a specialisation of the meaning ‘to turn,’ πολύτρητος, ‘porous,’ τρῆμα, ‘hole,’ συντρῆσαι, τετραίνω, ‘to bore through,’ τερέω, ‘to bore, turn on a lathe’ (compare Middle High German drœjen, ‘to turn on a lathe’), τόρνος, ‘turner's chisel,’ τέρετρον, Latin terebra, ‘borer.’ Compare also Darm.