stark English · revision 10535

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 750|origins=ang stearc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /stɑːk/, US /stɑːrk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ang|stearc|t=stiff, strong, severe]] (about 750),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[m|gem-pro|*starkuz]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) cognate with Old High German starc (German stark) and Dutch sterk, strong, and Old Norse sterkr.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) It is related to Gothic gastaurknan, to dry up, and Old Norse storkna, to coagulate,^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) and Barnhart links it with Old English starian, to [[stare]].^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Hard, rigid, and of a person hard, unyielding: before 900.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English it meant strong, stout and severe,^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988) and stiff in death survives in ''stiff and stark''.^(Collins 2023) By about 1300 it had become an intensive, sheer or absolute, perhaps helped by the common phrase ''stark dead'', where stark was taken as an intensive;^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) ''stark-naked'', according to Weekley, is for Middle English ''start-naked'', from Old English steort, tail, rump.^(Weekley 1921) The sense bare, barren is from 1833.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 750 – stearc.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 13th century – strong, severe.^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 14th century – sheer, absolute.^(Hoad 1986)

+ * 1833 – bare, barren.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Bare and plain, without ornament; [[blunt]]: ''the stark facts''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Harsh or [[grim]]; desolate: ''a stark landscape''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # [[utter|alt=Utter]] or complete: ''stark folly''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(archaic)'' Rigid, as in death.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[utterly|alt=Utterly]]; entirely: ''stark naked'', ''stark mad''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[starkly]]

+ * [[starkness]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[starkers]]

+ * [[starch]]

+ * [[stare]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}