Where does “trouble” come from?
Trouble comes from Middle English troublen, from Old French trubler and torbler, from Vulgar Latin turbulare, derived from Latin turbula and turba meaning crowd or disturbance, ultimately from Ancient Greek τύρβη.
trouble (English): A distressing or dangerous situation; A...
Definitions
- A distressing or dangerous situation; A...
Ancestry of “trouble”, step by step
trouble traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English trouble
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | trouble | Murky, muddy, turbid, opaque |
| 2 | Old French | troble | turbulent; cloudy; clouded; strife; commotion |
| 3 | Old French | trobler | to trouble; to disrupt; to waylay |
| 4 | Old French | torbler | Alternative form of trobler |
| 5 | Vulgar Latin | turbulo | I disrupt, unsettle, agitate, upset, trouble,... |
| 6 | Latin | turbula | disorderly group, a little crowd or people;... |
| 7 | Latin | turba | stir, disturbance, tumult, uproar, trouble; mob,... |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | τύρβη | disorder, confusion, tumult; poetic rout, revelry |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | twerH- | to enclose, fence in; to grab, seize; to stir |
via French troubler
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | troubler | to disturb, disrupt; to disturb, to trouble; to... |