Etymograph

English

astart

Astart comes from Proto-West Germanic *uʀ- ‘up, out, over’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *úd.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*úd1‘up, out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ud-s-1‘up, out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*uz-2‘up, out’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*uʀ-2‘up, out, over’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500asterten3
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590astart3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *uz-
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English a-
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English astart
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto II: “oft out of her bed she did astart, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*údWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *uz-‘up, out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ud-s-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *uz-‘up, out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*uz-Wiktionary, Old English a-‘up, out’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*uʀ-Wiktionary, Old English a-‘up, out, over’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500astertenWiktionary, English astart
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590astartWiktionary, English astart. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto II: “oft out of her bed she did astart, /…”

Formed from a- + start

Proto-Indo-European *uds- ‘up, out’

Proto-Germanic *uz- ‘out-’

Proto-West Germanic *uʀ- ‘up, out, over’

English a-

Proto-West Germanic *sturtijan ‘to fall down, tumble’

Old English styrtan ‘to leap up, start’

Middle English sterten ‘to leap up suddenly, rush out’

English start

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *úd ‘up, out’

about, out, utter, uterus, outward, uterine, hubris, hysteresis, 7 more

through Proto-Germanic *uz- ‘up, out’

ago, 2 more

through Proto-West Germanic *uʀ- ‘up, out, over’

awaken, amaze, aghast

Today it means

verb To cause to start; startle; start up; jump.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “astart”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *uz-, Old English a-. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *úd / astart

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