Etymology

totter

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Today it means: To walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall. Full definition →

Middle English totren ← Old English tealtrian ← Proto-Germanic *taltrōną
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totter · verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*del-
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*taltōną“to sway, dangle, hesitate”
  3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*taltrōną
  4. Old English · inherited fromtealtrian“to totter, vacillate”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromtotren
  6. English todaytotter

From Middle English totren, toteren, from earlier *tolteren (compare dialectal English tolter (“to struggle, flounder”); Scots tolter (“unstable, wonky”)), from Old English tealtrian (“to totter, vacillate”), from Proto-Germanic *taltrōną, a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *taltōną (“to sway, dangle, hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”). Cognate with Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), Norwegian dialectal totra (“to quiver, shake”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”). Related to tilt.

Totter · proper noun2

  1. German · borrowed fromTotter
  2. English todayTotter

Borrowed from Austrian German Totter.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishtealtrian all →

tolter

Proto-Germanic*taltrōną all →

tolter

Proto-Indo-European*del- all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.