The Painful Root of ‘Travel’

Despite the pains of flight delays, ever-shrinking seats, and exorbitant baggage fees, travel is typically easier today than it was centuries ago. Just look at people back in the Middle Ages: They had no way to book an inn on the internet, nor could they rent a horse in advance like you would reserve a rental car today. And forget about flying — cross-country or international journeys were long, arduous endeavors that took weeks or even months, rather than the mere hours we spend on planes now. These difficulties are why the word “travel” was coined in the first place.

“Travel” is derived from the word “travail,” referring to a laborious task that requires extra effort and takes a toll on the body and brain. The roots of “travail” reveal even more pain: It comes from the Old French word of an identical spelling meaning “to toil,” which comes from the Vulgar Latin tripaliare, meaning “to torture.” “Travail” entered the English lexicon during the mid-13th century, and by the late 13th century, it was widely used to describe the challenges women experienced during childbirth. However, that specific usage is now obsolete.

Back to the idea of traveling: For centuries, travel was viewed as an onerous task. It took an excessive amount of time to move from one place to another, there were uncomfortable accommodations along the way, and journeyers were vulnerable to crime. Given these common hardships, it was natural for people to refer to travel (though it wasn’t yet called that) as a travail.

Around the year 1300, the Middle English verb travailen appeared, meaning “to make a journey.” This gave rise to the word trauel (also sometimes spelled as trawaile, travell, travale, trauaille, etc.) in the late 14th century. It was only when Modern English began to take shape around the year 1600 that “travel” became the standard spelling. Today, travel does still involve some travail, but on a much different scale.