The word “draw” is such a common word, but it has many meanings, and at first they seem irreconcilable: To draw a picture. To draw a gun.To draw a crowd. To draw and quarter a prisoner. Drawers (meaning both underwear or the compartments we pull out of a chest). Drawing room. To draw water from a well. To draw a plow (Br. plough). To draw a bath.

And then, there is the word “drag,” which is essentially the same word as “draw”--To drag a river. To drag something behind you. To drag on (continue). To take a drag of a cigarette. To drag one’s feet. Bedraggled (having been dragged through mud, as in a lady’s skirts).

And then there is the word “draught” or “draft,” in American spelling:
Draft beer
To sit in a draft
Draftsman (draughtsman)
Dray horse.

All of these words come from Old English dragan “to drag or draw” and that is from Proto-Indo-European *dhragh (the asterisk indicates that the exact form isn’t known).

Related to "draw," there is the ancient Latin word "trahere," (try pronouncing the "t" as a "d"), which is again, the same word. Its past participle form is "tractus".
Attract
Tractor
Tractor-trailer

So what is the common factor? All of these words mean, in some way or other, “Pull.”

* You “pull” a pencil across the page.
* You pull a gun out of its holster.
* You pull a crowd toward you.
* You pull the guts out of a prisoner (if you’re a medieval or Renaissance despot) and then cut the body into four parts. Not one of Western civilization’s shining moments.
* You pull your underwear up.
* "Withdraw” means “to pull back,” so a “drawing room,” where in the past the ladies withdrew after dinner so that the men could enjoy their cigars and brandy, was really more of a withdrawing room.
* You pull a bucket out of a well.
* You pull a plow behind the horse.
* You pull a stopper or turn a faucet handle that lets water into a tub.

With “drag”
* You pull a net across a river (dragging a river).
* You “pull” smoke out of a cigarette by sucking and inhaling (taking a drag)

With “tractus”
* You pull a plow, as before, with a tractor--or a semi.
* You pull a trailer after the “tractor,” or “puller.”
* When you are attracted to someone, you are pulled toward that person by some emotional force.

With “draft” or “dray”
* You pull the lever on a keg to cause beer to flow
* You “draft” architect’s plans or a document, meaning you “draw” them
* A “dray” horse drags heavy loads behind it; hence, a large and strong horse.

All of these words, then, go back to Indo-European "dhragh," which probably sounded quite a bit like "draw" or "drag."