tumble

The story

1. Proto-Germanic*tūmōną
2. Proto-West Germanic*tumbōn
3. Old Englishtumbian
4. Middle Englishtumben
5. Middle Englishtumblen
6. English todaytumble

From Middle English tumblen (“to fall over and over again, tumble”), frequentative of Middle English tumben (“to fall, leap, dance”), from Old English tumbian, from Proto-West Germanic *tumbōn, tūmōn, from Proto-Germanic *tumbōną, tūmōną (“to turn, rotate”). Cognate with Middle Dutch tumelen (whence Dutch tuimelen), Middle Low German tumelen, tummelen, German taumeln, Danish tumle, Swedish tumla, tumbla (“to tumble”), Faroese tumla, tumbla (“to walk heavily and noisily, stagger”).

Words from the same roots