English
throw
Throw comes from Middle English throwen ‘to throw’, from Old English þrāwan ‘to turn, twist’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-1‘to rub’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þrēaną1‘to twist’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þrāan1‘to twist’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150þrāwan1‘to turn’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500throwen1‘to throw’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596throw1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English throw
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame: “There the snake throws her enamelled skin.”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-Wiktionary, English throw‘to rub’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þrēanąWiktionary, English throw‘to twist’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þrāanWiktionary, English throw‘to twist’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150þrāwanWiktionary, English throw‘to turn’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500throwenWiktionary, English throw‘to throw’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596throwWiktionary, English throw. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame: “There the snake throws her enamelled skin.”
The story
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 “caught”.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with throw, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn’
- turn ← turnen ← torner ← tornō ← tornus
- tournament ← tornoiement ← tornoiier ← *tornidiō ← tornō
- tragic ← τραγικός ← τράγος ← τράγω
- thread ← thred ← þrǣd ← *þrēduz ← *treh₁-tu-s
- threshold ← threschwolde ← þresċold ← *þreskudlaz ← *þreskaną
- detrimental ← *dētrīmentālis ← dētrīmentum ← dēterō ← terō
- trout ← troute ← truht ← tructa ← τρώκτης
- detriment ← detriement ← detrimentum ← dēterere ← terō
- detour ← détourner ← tourner ← tourner ← torner
- attrition ← attricion ← attricion ← attrītiō ← atterō
- tourney ← turnei ← tornei ← tornoiier ← *tornidiō
- tyrone ← tirone ← tīrō ← triō
52 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
verb To hurl; to release (an object) with some force from one’s hands, an apparatus, etc. so that it moves rapidly through the air.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “throw”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- / throw