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*sturjan1‘to stir up, agitate’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150styrian1‘to be in motion, move, agitate, stir, disturb, trouble’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stiren1‘to stir’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588stir1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English stir
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “They ſay he is the King of Perſea. But…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sturjanWiktionary, English stir‘to stir up, agitate’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150styrianWiktionary, English stir‘to be in motion, move, agitate, stir, disturb, trouble’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stirenWiktionary, English stir‘to stir’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588stirWiktionary, English stir. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 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.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stir”. 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-West Germanic *sturjan / stir

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