Hurdle and crate share a root meaning "to weave" — because medieval hurdles were woven wicker frames, one of which was used to drag traitors to their execution.
A portable frame used as a temporary fence or barrier; an upright frame that athletes jump over in a race; any obstacle or difficulty to be overcome.
From Old English hyrdel, meaning a frame of interwoven sticks or branches used as a temporary barrier, from Proto-Germanic *hurdiz (hurdle, wattle frame), from Proto-Indo-European *kr̥t- (to weave, to twist), related to Latin crātis (wickerwork, hurdle). Key roots: *kr̥t- (Proto-Indo-European: "to weave, to twist, to plait").
Hurdle shares a PIE root with crate — both trace to *kr̥t-, meaning to weave or plait, because the original hurdles and crates were both made of woven wickerwork. In medieval England, hurdles had a grim secondary use: convicted traitors were tied to hurdles and dragged behind horses through the streets to their execution site — the "drawn" part of being "hanged, drawn, and quartered." The athletic hurdle race only appeared in the 19th century, when someone thought jumping