An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Trift

by Friedrich Kluge

Trift, feminine, ‘right of pasturage, common,’ from Middle High German trift, feminine, ‘pasture,’ literally ‘place to which something is driven’; not recorded in Old High German Trift (as in the case of Acker) is a relic of the speech of primitively nomad life. Middle High German trift also signifies (as a derivative of the root of treiben) ‘herd, drove, floating (of wood), actions, mode of life’; compare English drift and drove.