start

Pronunciation

• IPA: /stɑːt/ (UK); /stɑːrt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sterten (“to leap, move suddenly”),^[2][3] later starten,^[4] probably inherited from Old English styrtan (“to leap up”), recorded only once, in the Northumbrian participle sturtende,^[3][5] with assumed variants *steortian and *stiertan.^[4][3] It comes from Proto-Germanic *stert-,^[3][5] and its cognates include Old Frisian sterta (“to fall, tumble”), Dutch storten (“to rush, fall, spill”), Old High German sturzen (“to fall, throw”) (modern German stürzen (“to hurl, plunge”)) and Old Norse sterta (“to stiffen”).^[4][3][6] According to Watkins, as cited by Etymonline, the underlying notion is “to move briskly” and the root is Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”).^[3] It is related to startle and stare.^[7][4] A separate noun start “tail”, from Old English steort, survives in redstart.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To leap, jump, move with a sudden spring (before 1200, in Layamon's Brut).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the sense “sudden movement” came “the start of a movement, setting out on a journey”, which in turn led to “beginning” of any kind.^[7][9] By about 1300 the verb meant “to wake suddenly” and “to flinch in alarm”.^[3][4] Hunters spoke of starting game from its lair from the late 14th century, as in Chaucer's start a hare,^[3][10] and Weekley derives the idea of setting out and beginning from such sporting uses.^[10] The sense “to cause to begin working” is first recorded in 1666, in Pepys's diary,^[2] and “to begin to move, set off” without any idea of suddenness in Scott's Kenilworth (1821).^[2][3] The noun followed the same path, from a sudden movement or jump (late 14th century) to the beginning of a course of action (1560s) and the signal to begin (about 1600).^[3][4] Morris (1898) observed that young Australians avoided begin in favour of start or commence.^[11] Regional slang uses include Australian a start “a job”^[12] and South African start “money”.^[13]

Timeline

• before 1200 – sterten, to leap, move suddenly (Layamon).^[2]
• before 1200 – noun, a sudden movement; a short space of time.^[2]
• before 1325 – to flinch or recoil in alarm.^[4]
• c. 1386 – to wake suddenly.^[4][14]
• 1421 – by starts, intermittently.^[14]
• 1566 – noun, the act of beginning to move or act.^[4]
• 1666 – to cause to begin working (Pepys).^[2]
• 1821 – to set out, begin to move (Scott).^[2]
• 1849 – an opportunity at the beginning of a career.^[3]
• 1873 – start in, to begin (American).^[3]
• 1915 – start something, to cause trouble (American).^[3]
• 1946 – housing starts.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To begin to do something or to happen: it started to rain.
2. To set out on a journey.
3. To cause to begin; to set in motion: start the engine.
4. To found or establish: started a company.
5. To make a sudden movement from surprise.
6. To play in the first lineup of a game.
7. To rouse (game) from its cover.

Noun

1. The beginning of something.
2. The place or time at which a race begins.
3. A sudden movement of surprise: woke with a start.
4. An advantage gained at the beginning; a lead: a head start.
5. An opportunity to begin a career.

Word family

• restart
• upstart
• start-up
• starter
• self-starting
• redstart

Related words

• startle
• stark
• stare

Usage notes

Random House lists begin as a synonym and end and terminate as antonyms; the American Heritage Dictionary discusses start among its synonyms of begin.^[15][16]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
9. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Morris, Edward E. (1898), Austral English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases and Usages, London: Macmillan
12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles, Dictionary Unit for South African English, https://dsae.co.za
14. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
16. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin