Etymology

disturb

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Today it means: to confuse a quiet, constant state or a calm, continuous flow, in particular: thoughts, actions or liquids. Full definition →

Middle English destourben ← Anglo-Norman distourber ← Old French destorber
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)twerH-
  2. Latin · derived fromdisturbare
  3. Old French · derived fromdestorber
  4. Anglo-Norman · derived fromdistourber
  5. Middle English · inherited fromdestourben
  6. English todaydisturb

From Middle English destourben, from Anglo-Norman distourber and Old French destorber, from Latin disturbare, intensifying for turbare (“to throw into disorder”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH-, *(s)turH- (“to rotate, swirl, twirl, move around”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*(s)twerH- all →

stormstarboardperturbimperturbable

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.