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Origin and history of wrack

wrack(n.)

mid-14c., wrak, "a wrecked ship;" also, late 14c., "destruction of a ship afloat by wind or rocks or force of waves;" probably from Middle Dutch wracke, Middle Low German wrak "wreck," from Proto-Germanic *wrakaz-, which is reconstructed in Watkins to be from PIE root *wreg- "to push, shove, drive" (see wreak) if the etymological sense is "that which is cast ashore by the waves or tide."

The sense development likely was influenced by now-obsolete Middle English cognate wrak, wrake, and wreak (q.v.), which was not always differentiated in spelling. "In writers of the 16-17th cent. it is sometimes uncertain which word is intended" [OED, 1989].

The general meaning "damage, disaster, destruction" (in wrack and ruin) is from c. 1400, from the Old English word, but conformed in spelling to this one. To go to wrack (c. 1400) was "be destroyed at sea."

The sense of "seaweed, etc., cast up on shore" is recorded from 1510s, probably an alteration of wreck (n.) in this sense (which is attested by mid-15c.). Wrack, wreck, rack and wretch were entirely tangled in spelling and partly so in sense in Middle and early modern English.

Middle English wrake (v.), used of God or persons, "inflict punishment, exact vengeance or retributive justice" (c. 1200), probably is from Old English wracian (see wreak), or verbs in Middle Dutch and Low German.

also from mid-14c.

wrack(v.)

"to ruin, destroy, make a wreck of" (originally in reference to ships), 1560s, from earlier intransitive sense of "be shipwrecked" (late 15c.), from wrack (n.).

Often confused in this sense since 16c. with rack (v.1) in the sense of "torture on the rack;" to wrack one's brains is thus erroneous. Related: Wracked; wracking.

also from 1560s

Entries linking to wrack

rack(v.1)

early 15c., rakken, "to stretch, stretch out (cloth) for drying," also, of persons, "to torture by violently stretching on the rack," from rack (n.1) or from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German recken. Of other pains from 1580s.

Figurative sense of "subject to strenuous effort" (of the brain, memory, etc.) is by 1580s; that of "to torment, afflict with great pain or distress" is from c. 1600. Meaning "fit with racks" is from 1580s.

Sense of "to place (pool balls, etc.) in a rack" as before starting a game is by 1909 (the noun in this sense is by 1907). Teenager slang meaning "to sleep" is from 1960s (rack (n.) was Navy slang for "bed" in 1940s). Related: Racked; racking. Rack up "register, accumulate, achieve" is attested by 1943 (in Billboard magazine), probably from pool halls, perhaps from a method of keeping score. To rack up formerly was "fill a stable rack with hay or straw for horses kept overnight" (1743).

wreak(v.)

Old English wrecan "avenge," usually with the offense or offender as the subject (Shakespeare's "send down Justice for to wreak our wrongs"), also "gratify one's anger;" originally "drive, drive out, punish" (class V strong verb; past tense wræc, past participle wrecen). It is from Proto-Germanic *wrekanan, which is perhaps from PIE root *urgh- "to push, shove, drive, track down" (see urge (v.)).

The "drive" sense is not attested after Old English. The meaning "execute or take" (vengeance), with on, is recorded from late 15c.; that of "inflict or cause" (damage or destruction) is attested by 1817. To wreak havoc is by 1837 ["La Hougue Bie de Hambie"].

Compare wrack (v.). Germanic cognates include Old Saxon wrekan, Old Norse reka, Old Frisian wreka, Middle Dutch wreken "to drive, push, compel, pursue, throw," Old High German rehhan, German rächen "to avenge," Gothic wrikan "to persecute." Related: Wreaked; wreaking.