An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/drehen

by Friedrich Kluge

drehen, vb., ‘to turn, whirl, wind,’ from MidHG. drœjen, drœn, ‘to turn, turn round,’ OHG. drâjan. The Goth. form may have been þ aian (comp. wehen, Goth. waian; säen, Goth. saian); comp. Du. draaijen, ‘to turn (on a lathe)’; AS. þrâwan (comp. sâwan, wâwan), and MidE. þrâwen, ‘to turn,’ are str. vbs., while the ModHG. verb is wk. even in OHG. The assumed Goth. form *þraian, ‘to turn,’ was undoubtedly conjugated strong (pret. *þaíþrô). þrê is the verbal stem common to Teut., from which a subst., Draht, meaning ‘twisted thread,’ was formed by adding a dental suffix. This subst. proves most clearly that the root of drehen did not end in a guttural, and that therefore ModHG. Drechsler, from OHG. drâhsil, cannot be allied to drehen. In ModE., to throw (‘to turn’), is obsolete. The root þrê is from pre-Teut. trê, ter; this appears in Gr., 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’ (comp. MidHG. drœjen, ‘to turn on a lathe’), τόρνος, ‘turner's chisel,’ τέρετρον, Lat. terebra, ‘borer.’ Comp. also Darm.