The story
- Old English · inherited fromġearcian“to prepare, make ready”
- Middle English · inherited fromȝerken“to move suddenly, excite, bind tightly, attack”
- English todaygirk
From Middle English ȝerken (“to move suddenly, excite, bind tightly, attack”), from Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready”). Cognate with jerk and yerk.
Words from the same roots
Middle Englishȝerken all →
yerk
Old Englishġearcian all →
yarkyerk
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.