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prettygoodwordtumble (TUHM-bl) - v., to fall end over end, to roll over and over; to perform acrobatic feats such as somersaults, rolls, or twists.
Plus many, more specialized extensions of those two main senses of accidental or deliberate turning movements, especially in the direction of falling. This is another frequentive where the stem didn't survive into Modern English: formed in the 13th century as Middle English tumblen, to dance about in an acrobatic style, frequentive of tumben, to dance about, from Old English tumbian, to leap/dance, from Proto-Germanic *tūmōną, to turn/rotate. So possibly the stem wasn't used because the frequentive meant close to the same thing? Dunno.
---L.
Plus many, more specialized extensions of those two main senses of accidental or deliberate turning movements, especially in the direction of falling. This is another frequentive where the stem didn't survive into Modern English: formed in the 13th century as Middle English tumblen, to dance about in an acrobatic style, frequentive of tumben, to dance about, from Old English tumbian, to leap/dance, from Proto-Germanic *tūmōną, to turn/rotate. So possibly the stem wasn't used because the frequentive meant close to the same thing? Dunno.
---L.
