Etymology
1. O.E.
freosan "turn to ice" (class II strong verb; past tense
freas, pp.
froren), from P.Gmc.
*freusanan (cf. O.N.
frjosa, O.H.G.
friosan, Ger.
frieren "to freeze," Goth.
frius "frost"), from P.Gmc.
*freus-, equivalent to PIE base
*preus- "to freeze," also "to burn" (cf. Skt.
prusva, L.
pruina "hoarfrost," Welsh
rhew "frost," Skt.
prustah "burnt," Albanian
prus "burning coals," L.
pruna "a live coal"). Transitive sense first recorded 14c., figurative sense c.1400. Meaning "become rigid or motionless" first recorded 1848, in "Jane Eyre." Sense of "fix at a certain level, make non-transactable" is 1922. Archaic
frore "frosty, frozen" can be found in poetry as late as Keats; it is from O.E.
frorer, pp. of
freosan. First record of
freezer in reference to a machine for keeping things very cold is from 1847.
Freeze frame is from 1960, originally "a briefly Frozen Shot after the Jingle to allow ample time for Change over at the end of a T.V. 'Commercial.' " ["ABC of Film & TV," 1960].
2. From Middle English fresen, from Old English frēosan (“to freeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *freusan, from Proto-Germanic *freusaną (“to freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”).
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with North Frisian friis, friise, früüs (“to freeze”), Saterland Frisian fjoose, frjoze (“to freeze”), West Frisian frieze (“to freeze”), Central Franconian freese (“to freeze”), Cimbrian briizan, vriizan (“to be cold”), Dutch vriezen (“to freeze”), Low German freren, fresen (“to freeze”), Luxembourgish fréieren (“to freeze”), German frieren (“to freeze”), Yiddish פֿרירן (frirn, “freeze”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål fryse (“to freeze”), Icelandic frjósa (“to freeze”), Norwegian Nynorsk frysa, fryse (“to freeze”), Swedish frysa (“to freeze”); also Cornish rew (“frost, ice”), Irish reo (“frost”), reoigh (“to freeze”), Manx rio (“frost, ice”), Scottish Gaelic reòdh, reòth (“freeze”), Welsh rhew (“frost, ice”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, rime”), Albanian prush (“embers”), Lithuanian prausti (“to give showers of rain”), Czech prskat (“to splutter, sputter”), Macedonian прска (prska, “to spray, sprinkle”), Polish pryskać, prysnąć (“to spray, sprinkle”), Russian пры́скать (prýskatʹ), пры́снуть (prýsnutʹ, “to spray, sprinkle”), Serbo-Croatian прскати, prskati (“to spray, sprinkle”), Sanskrit प्रुष्णोति (pruṣṇoti, “to moisten, shower, sprinkle, wet”), प्रुष्वा (pruṣvā, “hoarfrost, ice, rime”), Saraiki پسݨ (pussaṇ, “to become wet”). See: Middle English '
fresen', Proto-Germanic '
*freusaną', Frisian, Saterlandic 'fjoose', Cimbrian 'briizan', Dutch '
vriezen', Low Saxon 'freren', Luxembourgish '
fréieren', German, old spelling '
frieren', Icelandic '
frjósa', Norwegian, nynorsk '
frysa', Swedish '
frysa', Cornish '
rew', Manx '
rio', Scots Gaelic '
reòdh', Lithuanian '
prausti', Czech '
prskat', Macedonian '
прска', Polish '
pryskać', Russian '
пры́скать', Serbo-Croatian '
прскати'.
Verbs referencing "freeze"
Norwegian, nynorsk
frysa, Danish
fryse, German, old spelling
frieren, Luxembourgish
fréieren, Low Saxon fresen, Maltese
ffriża, Cimbrian vriizan, Frisian, Saterlandic frjoze, Italian
frizzarsi.