n.
'(cunning) practice'
(Modern English trant)This obscure word has been relatively little discussed in scholarship, but there are several possible sources worth considering: (1) Cautious comparison has been made to MDu trant 'step, pace' (Du trant 'manner, way, method, kind') (so MED, TGD), which corresponds formally, and OED argues that from some of these senses a notion of 'shift, clever way or course, device, trick' might have developed. (2) Kullick (20) also compares Sw trant (cp. Sw dial tranta 'to trot', Dan dial trante 'to go slowly' , see further Hellq.), on the basis of which the existence of an ON *tranta could be posited, but if this is the case, the same difficulties of sense development apply as with the Du word at (1). (3) The closest Scandinavian forms otherwise are the Icel v. tranta in the phrase tranta sér fram ‘to press oneself forward’, apparently formed on the n. trantr ‘snout (in vulgar use)’, and the similar Norw tranta ‘to push with the nose, to stick one’s nose into everything’. If this trant- represents an extended by-form (*tranata-) of Icel trana ‘to push forward’ (cp. MHG trennen ‘to separate, cut’, MDu tornen ‘to pull, jerk’ < the causative PGmc *trannjan- ‘to split’), then it is possible to posit an ON *trant- with an original sense ‘push’ or ‘separate’ which, perh. after loan into English, could have been applied to an action of dodging or swerving (adroitly, cunningly). But the attested meanings of Icel and Norw trant- are quite remote from this, all having to do with pushing forward or sticking one’s nose in; and it seems more likely that these are (relatively recent) WN formations with little or no connection to ME tra(u)nt- (Dance). (4) Derivation from (or via) AF might be suggested by spellings <traunt> (Gaw) and <trauntis> (DT), which imply the presence in some variants of the tra(u)nt stem of the AN change of /a/ > /au/ before a tautosyllabic nasal (esp. before dentals); thus ME -aun- normally reflects either AN origin or pronunciation of English names (see Jordan-Crook §224 III) (Dance). Possible sources include: (a) Fr trant-, which is similar in form but whose derivatives (mainly with an -ol suffix) have to do with balancing or swinging (e.g. trantol 'balancing', trantula 'to totter'), though there is also Lang. estre en tranto 'to not know which course to take'. The sense is remote from the ME, though one could posit a development from 'balance ' > 'carefully balanced manoeuvre' > 'dodge, act of cunning' , and the geographical attestation of these words (confined to Occitan dial) is a further point against connecting them with the ME (see further Dance). (b) A more plausible comparison is English dial trant (EDD, OED trant v.2), a back derivation on the agent n. tranter 'chiefly denoting a man who does jobs with his horse and cart; a carrier; a hawker or cadger; a huckster (etc.) (OED), first attested c. 1500 as <traunters>. It seems to represent a syncopated form of earlier traventer, a development of medieval (Anglo-)Lat trāvetārius (perh. < Lat *transvectārius, formed on transvectio ‘transportation’). This form trauent- is found in AN texts from the mid 14c. (see MED, AND) and in English in the mid 15c., but the shorter variant traunt- also seems to have been in use in England since the14c. (MED cites it as a surname in (1332) Sub.R.War.in Dugd.Soc.6 40, <Simon le Traunter>). One could also posit a plausible sense development from ‘peddling, hawking wares’ > ‘sharp practice, ingenuity (in striking a deal)’ > ‘cunning practice, dodging’ (see further Dance).
PGmc Ancestor
(1) *trand-; (3) *tranata-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
(ONP )
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
(2) Dan dial trante, Sw dial tranta; (3) Icel tranta, Norw tranta
OE Cognate
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
DD1c
MED cites eight attestations (starting with a1400 Preste ne monke (Cleo B.2)), from a range of N and E texts (incl. DT)
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 1700