Etymograph

English

stint

Stint comes from Old English styntan ‘to make blunt’, from Proto-West Germanic *stuntijan ‘to shorten’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stuntaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stuntaz‘short, stunted’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stuntijaną‘to shorten’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*stuntijan‘to shorten’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150styntan‘to make blunt’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stinten
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590stint

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stuntaz‘short, stunted’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stuntijaną‘to shorten’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*stuntijan‘to shorten’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150styntan‘to make blunt’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stinten
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590stint

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto III: “O do thy cruell wrath and spightfull wrong /…”

The story

From Middle English stinten, from Old English styntan (‘to make blunt’) and *stintan (attested in āstintan (‘to make dull, stint, assuage’)), from Proto-West Germanic *stuntijan, from Proto-Germanic *stuntijaną and Proto-Germanic *stintaną (‘to make short’), probably influenced in some senses by cognate Old Norse *stynta, stytta (‘to make short, shorten’).

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *stuntaz ‘short, stunted’

stunt, 1 more

Today it means

verb To stop (an action); cease, desist.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *stuntaz / stint

Shirt and support for this word