tool

From Middle English tool, tol, from Old English tōl ("tool, implement, instrument"), literally "that with which one prepares something," perhaps borrowed from Old Norse tól, but ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą, from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ("to tie to, secure"). It's built from taw ("to prepare") plus an agent suffix, so the word names an object by naming the preparing it does.

The facts don't describe a shift in meaning over time — from Old English onward it has denoted an implement or instrument used to prepare or accomplish something.

It's related to Old English tāwian ("to make, prepare, or cultivate"), which survives in English as taw, and it shares a root with tow, the word for fibers used in spinning.