Etymograph

English

stot

Stot comes from Old English stott ‘a hack, jade, or worthless horse’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150stott‘a hack, jade, or worthless horse’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stot
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1850same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150stott‘a hack, jade, or worthless horse’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stot
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1850same form

Earliest quotation: 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology: “Rory would never have believed that his half-hour had…”

The story

From Middle English stot, from Old English stott (‘a hack, jade, or worthless horse’), from Proto-West Germanic *stott, *stutt, of uncertain origin; yet, probably related to Old Norse stútr (‘young bull, steer’) (whence Danish stud (‘a castrated bull, steer’), Swedish stut (‘a steer’)).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Every English word from Old English stott

Another origin of stot

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewd-‘to push, to hit’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stautaną‘to push, jolt, bump’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*stautan‘to knock, to bump’uncertain
  4. Old Saxonc. 800–1200stōtan‘to shock’uncertain
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500stoten‘to push’uncertain
  6. Englishtodaystot

Likely derived from Middle Dutch stoten (‘to push’) or Middle Low German stôten, from Old Saxon stōtan, from Proto-West Germanic *stautan, from Proto-Germanic *stautaną (‘to push, jolt, bump’), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd-, from *(s)tew- (‘to push, hit’). Also compare Middle English steten (‘to thrust, strike, push, knock down’), Old Norse stauta and steyta (whence Danish støde), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌿𐍄𐌰𐌽 (stautan), Old Saxon stotan; as well, modern English stutter.

Today it means

noun An inferior horse.

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

Etymograph / Old English stott / stot

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