The story
- Old English · inherited fromfeaxede steorra“comet”
- Middle English · inherited fromfaxed sterre
- English todayfaxed star
From Middle English faxed sterre, from Old English feaxede steorra (“comet”, literally “maned star”), equivalent to faxed (“having hair, hairy”) + star, from the tail appearing as though the star had hair.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.