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startle (STAR-tl) - v., to frighten or surprise suddenly and not seriously, surprise; to move or jump suddenly (as in surprise or alarm).
A frequentive of start -- which is puzzling at first glance, as to start itself means pretty much the same thing, so what's frequentive about it? It turns out that in Middle English, startlen/stertlen meant rush/stumble, so really did involve a sequence of jars, a meaning that eventually shifted, or maybe I mean downgraded, to a single instance. That Middle English form was already a shift from the Old English steartlian, to kick, with secondary meaning struggle.
---L.
A frequentive of start -- which is puzzling at first glance, as to start itself means pretty much the same thing, so what's frequentive about it? It turns out that in Middle English, startlen/stertlen meant rush/stumble, so really did involve a sequence of jars, a meaning that eventually shifted, or maybe I mean downgraded, to a single instance. That Middle English form was already a shift from the Old English steartlian, to kick, with secondary meaning struggle.
---L.
