Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “start” come from?

start (Middle English) comes from Old English steort, from Proto-West Germanic *stert, from Proto-Germanic stertaz, from Proto-Indo-European (s)terd-, from Proto-Indo-European (s)ter- — strong, firm, stiff, rigid; rigid, stiff; to...

Ancestry of “start”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishsteorttail
2Proto-West Germanic*stert—
3Proto-Germanicstertaztail
4Proto-Indo-European(s)terd-—
5Proto-Indo-European(s)ter-strong, firm, stiff, rigid; rigid, stiff; to...
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