An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/durch

by Friedrich Kluge

durch, prep., ‘through, owing to, by,’ from MidHG. durch. dur, ‘through,’ also ‘for the sake of,’ OHG. duruh, durh; comp. OSax. thurh, AS. þurh, E. through and thorough. Goth. þaírh, ‘through,’ with an abnormal vowel, is related to the OHG. dërh, ‘perforated,’ with which are connected OHG. durhil, durihil, MidHG. dürhel, dürkel, ‘pierced, porous,’ AS. þŷrel (for þyrhil), ‘hole’ (comp. Nüster), as well as Goth. þaírkô, f., ‘hole’ (k, from kk, for kn?). The prepos. might easily be a case of an older adj., perhaps the acc. neut. Besides the passive meaning of OHG. dërh, ‘pierced,’ an active sense, ‘piercing,’ may also be added. The base þerh would be best defined by ‘to pierce, penetrate,’ which recalls the HG. dringen; the former is based upon a pre-Teut. root terk, the latter upon a root trenk. The connection with Lat. trans is exceedingly problematical.