Etymology

startle

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Today it means: To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start. Full definition →

Middle English startlen ← Old English steartlian
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromsteartlian“to kick with the foot, struggle, stumble”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromstartlen“to rush, jump”
  3. English todaystartle

From Middle English startlen (“to rush, jump”), from Old English steartlian (“to kick with the foot, struggle, stumble”), equivalent to start + -le. Cognate with Old Norse stirtla (“to hobble, stagger”), Icelandic stirtla (“to straighten up, erect”). Compare also Middle English stertil (“hasty”). More at start.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.