An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/träge

by Friedrich Kluge

träge, adjective, ‘indolent, lazy,’ from Middle High German trœge, adjective (trâgo, adverb), Old High German trâgi, adjective (trâgo; adverb), ‘slow, loth, wearied, lazy’; corresponding to Dutch traag, Anglo-Saxon trâg, ‘reluctant, difficult.’ The assumed primitively Teutonic *trêgu-z, ‘reluctant, loth,’ belongs to an Old Teutonic root trē̆g, ‘to be sad, disheartened,’ which appears in Gothic trîgo, ‘sadness,’ Old Icelandic tregr, ‘reluctant, slow’ (trege, ‘pain’), Anglo-Saxon trëga, ‘pain,’ Old Saxon trâgi, ‘vexation’ (allied to trëgan, strong verb, ‘to be sorry’). Old Swedish trögher (Modern Swedish trög), ‘lazy,’ has a graded form, ô, of the root vowel ē̆. Sanscrit drâgh, ‘to torment,’ has also been supposed to contain the Aryan root drē̆gh. The following word is not allied.