Etymology
The origin of this adverb is obscure. Menner, regarding the etymology as unknown, glosses '? quickly' from context and the
OED does not hazard a guess. Formally, it can be explained as a formation on a borrowing from ON, cp. OIcel
tregða (n.) 'unwillingness, reluctance, difficulty', but its attested meanings will not account for the apparent sense in
Cl where it describes the righteous destruction of Gomorrah and God's anger; in neither case is a meaning suggesting reluctance likely. Sundén (1929: 44) argues that ON
tregða is most plausibly explained as a formation on the verbal root
*treg- as in the PGmc st. v.
*tregan- 'to be downcast' (cp. OIcel
trega (wk. but with some st. forms), OS
tregan 'to grieve'), the wk. n.
*tregōn (cp. OIcel
tregi 'difficulty, reluctance; grief, sorrow', OE
trega 'misfortune, misery, trouble, grief, pain', OS
trego 'pain' and Go (fem.)
trigo 'reluctance'). The primary sense of
*treg- would have been 'to become tough or slow' (see further Kroonen), from which a secondary sense of being mournful developed. Sundén suggests then that an unattested sense 'grief, pain' may have existed for the ON sb.
tregða, as is attested for OIcel
tregi, or perhaps under influence from this more common n. An adv. formed in English on this n. could thus have the sense 'to a distressing or grievous extent, grievously, painfully'. As Sundén observes, however, it is also possible to postulate a native derivation on the root
*treg-, which does appear in OE (cp.
trega above and the wk. v.
tregian 'to trouble, harass, vex'): this would be an unattested variant n. with a suffix in PGmc /θ/, cp. e.g.
strengu/
strengð(u). This possibility is more speculative, however. Also possible, but less likely is the association with ON
trauð- by GollCl who glosses '?grievously' (see 907n) (an explanation Sundén (1929: 43) dismisses on semantic grounds). The most recent editor, Olsen, mentions the various posibilities which have been put forward without expressing a view.
PGmc Ancestor
?*treg-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
tregða 'unwillingness, reluctance, difficulty'
(ONP tregða (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
OE Cognate
cp. trega (n.) 'misfortune, misery, trouble, grief, pain', tregian (v.) 'to trouble, harass, vex'
Phonological and morphological markers
[ON /ey/ < PGmc */au/ by front mutation]
(may not be applicable)
Summary category
D1c