Etymology
Cp. the OIcel adj.
traustr ‘trusty, sure, firm, strong, safe’ (cp. MLG
getrōst ‘confident’, OHG
gitrost) and OIcel n.
traust ‘trust, protection, shelter’ (cp. OFris
trāst ‘comfort’, MLG, OHG
trōst, and the neut.
jan-stem in Go
trausti ‘covenant’, OHG
gitrōsti ‘consolation, comfort’). Because of their apparent similarity with the ON forms and the total absence of similar formations in OE, both ME
trist- (the spellings imply late OE /y/ or /y:/) and ME
trust- (PDE
trust) have been derived from ON, either from the adj./n. stem or the dependent v. represented by OIcel
treysta (< PGmc
*traustjan-; see
trayst (v.)). But the vocalism of the English forms is out of keeping with the usual fates of VAN /au, ɔu/ or /æy, øy/, and no proposed explanation has been generally excepted (see e.g. Bj.). A more satisfactory solution (e.g.
OED) is to posit an Ablaut variant of PGmc
*traust-, viz. the zero-grade
*trust-, which would regularly give OE
*trust n. and a wk. 1 v.
*trystan (<
*trustjan-), and is perhaps also represented in MHG
getrüste ‘host’. See also
tryst (v.) and
trystyly (adv.).
PGmc Ancestor
*trust- or *traust-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
traustr ‘trusty, sure, firm, strong, safe’; traust ‘trust, protection, shelter’
(ONP traustr (adj.); traust (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far treystur, Icel traustur, Norw traust, ODan trøst, MSw tröster; Far treyst, Icel traust, Norw traust, Dan trøst, Sw tröst
OE Cognate
?*trust (n.)
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
BBB2