English
stoke
Stoke comes from Middle English stoken.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stoken
- Englishearliest quotation 1387–1400stoke
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stoken
- Englishearliest quotation 1387–1400stoke
Earliest quotation: 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knẏghtes Tale: “Ne short swerd for to stoke with point bityng…”.
The story
Alternative etymology derives the Middle English word from Old French estoquer, estochier (‘to thrust, strike’), from the same Germanic source.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewg- ‘to push, beat’
through Middle Dutch stoken ‘to poke, thrust’
Another origin of stoke
- Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500stoken‘to poke, thrust’uncertain
- Dutchc. 1500–presentstoken‘to kindle a fire, incite, instigate’uncertain
- Dutch, derivedc. 1500–presentstoker‘stoker, one who stokes fuel’uncertain
- Englishtodaystoke
Today it means
verb To poke, pierce, thrust.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English stoken / stoke