fraise

Etymology

This word comes from Middle English fraisen, from Old English frāsian (“to ask, try, tempt”), from Proto-Germanic *fraisōną (“to attempt, try”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to attempt, try; risk, peril”). It is related to West Frisian freezje (“to fear”), Dutch vrezen (“to fear, dread, be afraid”) and German freisen (“to put at risk, endanger, terrify”). Alternatively, the Middle English fraisen may instead have been borrowed from Middle Dutch vreisen, vresen (“to be afraid; to endanger, threaten, frighten”), from Old Dutch *freisōn, *frēsōn, from the same Proto-West Germanic source given above.