Tug
Middle English: from the base of tow1. The noun is first recorded (late Middle English) in tug (sense 3 of the noun).
wiktionary
From Middle English tuggen, toggen, from Old English togian(“to draw, drag”), from Proto-Germanic *tugōną(“to draw, tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk-(“to pull”). Cognate with Middle Low German togen(“to draw”), Middle High German zogen(“to pull, tear off”), Icelandic toga(“to pull, draw”). Related to tow.
etymonline
tug (v.)
c. 1200, from weak grade of Old English teohan "to pull, drag," from Proto-Germanic *teuhan "to pull" (source also of Old High German zucchen "to pull, jerk," German zücken "to draw quickly), from PIE root *deuk- "to lead." Related to tow (v.). Related: Tugged; tugging.
tug (n.)
mid-14c., in reference to some part of a harness;" c. 1500 as "act of pulling or dragging," from tug (v.). Meaning "small, powerful vessel for towing other vessels" is recorded from 1817. Phrase tug of war (1670s) was originally figurative, "the decisive contest, the real struggle," from the noun in the sense "supreme effort, strenuous contest of forces" (1650s). As an actual athletic event, from 1876.
