Etymograph

English

stir

Stir comes from Middle English stiren ‘to stir’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *sturjan.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sturjan‘to stir up, agitate’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150styrian‘to be in motion, move, agitate, stir, disturb, trouble’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stiren‘to stir’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588stir

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sturjan‘to stir up, agitate’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150styrian‘to be in motion, move, agitate, stir, disturb, trouble’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stiren‘to stir’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588stir

Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “They ſay he is the King of Perſea. But…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH- ‘to stir up, agitate’

trouble, storm, turbulent, disturb, 5 more

Another origin of stir

  1. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEआतिष्ठतिātiṣṭhati‘stand or remain by’uncertain
  2. Romanimodernstariben‘prison’
  3. Englishtodaystir

Today it means

verb To disturb the relative position of the particles (of a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it.

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

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *sturjan / stir

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