Etymograph

English

fast

Fast comes from Old English fæst ‘firm, secure’, from Proto-West Germanic *fast ‘fixed, fast’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fastuz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fastuz1‘fixed’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fast1‘fixed’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150fæst1‘firm’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fast1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1596fast1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English fast
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser: “out-lawes […] lurking in woods and fast places”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fastuzWiktionary, English fast‘fixed’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fastWiktionary, English fast‘fixed’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150fæstWiktionary, English fast‘firm’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fastWiktionary, English fast
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1596fastWiktionary, English fast. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser: “out-lawes […] lurking in woods and fast places”

The story

The development of “rapid” from an original sense of “secure” apparently happened first in the adverb and then transferred to the adjective; compare hard in expressions like “to run hard”. The original sense of “secure, firm” is now slightly archaic, but retained in the related fasten (‘make secure’). Also compare close meaning change from Latin rapiō (‘to snatch’) to Latin rapidus (‘rapid, quick’), from Irish sciob (‘to snatch’) to Irish sciobtha (‘quick’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Explore everything descended from *fastuz →

Another origin of fast

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pastV-‘solid, stable’uncertain
  2. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEपस्त्यpastyá‘stall, stable ← stable habitation’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fastuz‘fixed, firm, secure’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fastu‘fast, fasting’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fæst‘firm, stable’
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150fæste‘firmly, fastly, tightly’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fast‘fast (quickly)’
  8. Englishtodayfast

Another origin of fast

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pastV-‘solid, stable’uncertain
  2. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEपस्त्यpastyá‘stall, stable ← stable habitation’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fastuz‘firm’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fastāną‘to observe, hold firm to’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fastēn‘to fast, to abstain from food and/or drink’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150fæstan‘to fast’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fasten
  8. Englishtodayfast

Proto-Germanic *fastāną (‘to fast’), from the same root as Proto-Germanic *fastijaną (‘to fasten’), derived from *fastuz, and thereby related to Etymology 1. The religious sense is presumably introduced in the Gothic church, from Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fastan, “hold fast (viz. to the rule of abstinence)”). This semantic development is unique to Gothic, the term glosses Greek νηστεύω (nēsteúō), Latin ieiuno which do not have similar connotations of "holding fast". The feminine noun Old High German fasta likely existed in the 8th century (shift to neuter Old High German fasten from the 9th century, whence modern German Fasten).

Another origin of fast

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fastu(b)nją‘fast, fasting’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fastunireconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150fæsten‘fast, fasting’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500faste
  5. Englishtodayfast

Possibly merged with Old Norse fasta (‘fast, fasting’), whence also Danish faste (‘fast, fasting’), Swedish fasta (‘fast, fasting’).

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Today it means

adj Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fast”. 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-Germanic *fastuz / fast