Etymology
1. "to project, propel," c.1300, from O.E.
þrawan "to twist, turn writhe" (pt.
þreow, pp.
þrawen), from P.Gmc.
*thræ- (cf. O.S.
thraian, M.Du.
dræyen, Du.
draaien, O.H.G.
draen, Ger.
drehen "to turn, twist;" not found in Scand. or Gothic), from PIE
*tere- "to rub, turn, rub by turning, bore" (cf. Skt.
turah "wounded, hurt," Gk.
teirein "to rub, rub away," L.
terere "to rub, thresh, grind, wear away," O.C.S.
tiro "to rub," Lith.
trinu "to rub," O.Ir.
tarathar "borer," Welsh
taraw "to strike"). Not the usual O.E. word for "to throw" (
weorpan, related to warp was common in this sense). The sense evolution may be via the notion of whirling a missile before throwing it. The sense of "put by force" (e.g.
throw in jail) is first recorded 1560; that of "to confuse, flabbergast" is from 1844; that of "lose deliberately" is from 1868. To
throw the book at (someone) is 1932, from notion of judge sentencing a criminal from a law book full of possible punishments. To
throw (one's) hat in the ring "issue a challenge," esp. to announce one's candidacy, first recorded 1917. To
throw up "vomit" is first recorded 1732.
2. From Middle English throwen, thrawen, from Old English þrāwan (“to turn, twist”), from Proto-West Germanic *þrāan, from Proto-Germanic *þrēaną (“to twist, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn”).
3. Cognate with Scots thraw (“to twist, turn, throw”), West Frisian triuwe (“to push”), Dutch draaien (“to turn”), Low German draien, dreien (“to turn (in a lathe)”), German drehen (“to turn”).
4. Displaced warp as the word for hurling and was displaced by warp as the word for twisting.
5. The use in computing comes from the fact, that in programming languages a statement reporting an error interrupts normal processing and sends an error object up the function calling stack until a handling statement intercepts it. Thus an “object” is “thrown” and “flies” until it is “catched”. See: Middle English '
throwen', Proto-Germanic '
*þrēaną', Scots '
thraw', Dutch '
draaien', Low Saxon 'draien', German, old spelling '
drehen'.
Verbs referencing "throw"
English
turn, German, old spelling
drehen, Danish
dreje, Luxembourgish
dréien, Tok Pisin tromai, Cimbrian dréenan.