From Middle English tarien, terien, from Old English tirian, tirġan, terġan, from Proto-Germanic *terganą, *targijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *deregʰ-. Cognate with Dutch tergen ("to provoke"), German zergen ("to vex, irritate, provoke"), Norwegian Bokmål terge ("to irritate, provoke"), Russian дёргать ("to pull, yank, jerk, pluck up"). Compare also Walloon tårdjî ("to be late, to be slow, to wait").
From Middle English terrie, equivalent to tar + -y.
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