Etymology

start

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Today it means: The beginning of an activity. Full definition →

Middle English stert ← Old English styrtan ← Proto-West Germanic *sturtijan
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start · noun1

  1. Proto-West Germanic*sturtijan
  2. Old Englishstyrtan
  3. Middle Englishstertendeverb.
  4. Middle Englishstert
  5. English todaystart

From Middle English stert, from the verb sterten (“to start, startle”). See below.

start · verb, noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)ter-“to be stiff”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*sturtijan“to startle, move, set in motion”
  3. Old English · inherited fromstyrtan“to leap up, start”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromsterten“to leap up suddenly, rush out”
  5. English todaystart

From Middle English sterten (“to leap up suddenly, rush out”), from Old English styrtan (“to leap up, start”), from Proto-West Germanic *sturtijan (“to startle, move, set in motion”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter- (“to be stiff”). Cognate with Old Frisian stirta (“to fall down, tumble”), Middle Dutch sterten (“to rush, fall, collapse”) (Dutch storten), Old High German sturzen (“to hurl, plunge, turn upside down”) (German stürzen), Old High German sterzan (“to be stiff, protrude”). More at stare.

start · noun3

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*stertaz“tail”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*stert
  3. Old English · inherited fromsteort“tail”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromstert
  5. English todaystart

From Middle English stert, start (“tail, handle, projection”), from Old English steort (“tail”), from Proto-West Germanic *stert, from Proto-Germanic *stertaz (“tail”). Cognate with Scots start, stairt (“side post, shaft, upright post”), Dutch staart (“tail”), German Sterz (“tail, handle”), Danish stjert (“tail of a bird”), Faroese stertur (“tail”), Icelandic stertur (“short horse tail”), Norn skjårt (“tail”), sterti (“tail of a large fish”), stjårt (“tail of a large fish”), Norwegian stjert (“tail of a bird”), Swedish stjärt (“tail, arse”).

start · adverb4

Variant of stark.

Start · noun5

The verb start, with initial uppercase letter.

Start · proper noun6

  1. Old English · inherited fromsteort“tail, promontory”
  2. English todayStart

Topographic surname, from Old English steort (“tail, promontory”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishsteort all →

stark naked

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.