Thole
/θoʊl/noun
A pin or peg in a rowing boat that holds an oar in place; also, in older usage, to endure or bear.
Did you know?The rowing sense of thole comes from Old English and is tied to the same ancient Germanic root as words meaning to endure, while the older verb sense survives in dialects and Scots as a word for suffering or putting up with something.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*tel-
“to bear, endure, support”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*þulōną
“to endure, suffer, bear”
Old English
OE
þolian
“to endure, suffer, tolerate”
Old Norse
ON
þola
“to endure, suffer”
Middle English
ME
thole
“to endure, bear; later also a pin or peg for an oar”
Modern English
English
thole
“a pin in a boat for holding an oar; dialectally, to endure or suffer”