THWART

[Dr. Goodword]

• thwart •

Pronunciation: thwart • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: 1. To obstruct, to block, to foil, frustrate, prevent by opposition. 2. To traverse, cross, pass from side to side or straddle.

Notes: Today's Good Word is the only word in English that begins with the consonants THW that is not a variant of another word beginning with WH, such as thwack (from whack) and thwittle (from whittle). This word may also be used as a noun referring to the transverse seat in a small boat and as a preposition or adverb meaning "across, astraddle", though in the latter sense it usually appears with the prefix a-: athwart, as to stand athwart the path.

In Play: We best know this word in its sense of obstruction: "Marvin's inability to speak any foreign language thwarts his best efforts to learn about the countries he travels to." As usual, however, we mourn the loss of the original meaning of this word so, as a purely Quixotic gesture, offer this example: "If Lionel promises to help you, make sure he isn't thwarting his fingers behind his back." And, of course, birds known as crossbeaks or crossbills have thwarted beaks.

Word History: This word began its life in Old English as an adverb meaning "from side to side, cross, perverse". It originated as Proto-Indo-European twork-/twerk- "to twist", which also motivated Latin torquere "to twist", the origin of English torque. Apparently torches were originally made of twisted brush for torch is also based on Latin torquere. Sanskrit tarkuh "spindle", Croatian traka "(highway) lane" from Old Slavic traku "band, girdle," and Modern German drechseln "to turn (on a lathe)" are other words from the same PIE root. (Today we thank Marcia Montgomery for allowing nothing to thwart her attempt to send this very Good Word to alphaDictionary.)

[Slava]

I just looked to see if I could understand if this had any relation to English "tract," which it feels like it should, but I couldn't quite get a connection. Any thoughts from anyone out there?

There's also the idea of the Russian "trakt," the Siberian pathway to exile. We should toss that into the mix, just for fun.

[Perry]

tract (1)
"area," 1494, "period or lapse of time," from L. tractus "track, course, space, duration," lit, "a drawing out or pulling," from stem of trahere "to pull, draw," from PIE base *tragh- "to draw, drag, move" (cf. Slovenian trag "trace, track," M.Ir. tragud "ebb," with variant form *dhragh-; see drag). The meaning "stretch of land or water" is first recorded 1553. Specific U.S. sense of "plot of land for development" is recorded from 1912; tract houses attested from 1963.

Therre doesn't seem to be an relation, from what I understand of this.

[Slava]

Ah, but in the original post we see that Croatian traka, a related word, means highway or lane. Why? What does a road, which to me implies a going through, have to do with a "thwart," which is a cutting off of the road?

[Brigadininkas]

Twart is sounds, reads and means almost exactly like lithuanian word "tverti" which has the same root as "tvora".

"Ati-tverti" means to "thwart" in lithuanian

"Tverti" - fence (verb, one of the meanings)
"Tvora" - fence (noun)
"Ati-tverti" - thwart ("ati" is prefix).

[LukeJavan8]

Has absolutely nothing to do with tract and the
discussion, but all the "road to Siberia" analogies
remind me of the "Bridge of Sighs" in Venice, Italy.
The last view of the outside world as a prisoner
was led from the "Doge's" palace to prison.