Meanings
Word Family
Root: *(s)ter-
The core idea of this root was:
stiff, rigid
Pretty simple, but it evolved into quite a few different directions.
Here’s an (incomplete) list of English family members:
- stark – (“strong, rigid”, shifted toward serious)
- starch – (“makes mush thick, stiff”)
- stern – (“rigid”)
- to start – (“jumping up quickly, stiff muscles”)
- to startle – (Same as “start” but shifted toward the cause)
- to stare – (“stiff gaze”, same as German “starren”)
- starve – (“stiff corpse”, same as German “sterben” – to die)
- torpedo – (“make numb”, from a Latin name for an electric ray fish that numbs you. Military name first used for sea mines, because they “sting” your ship)
- stereo – (Greek word for “solid”, they used it among other things for “solid 3D perception, I suppose)
The root is also the origin of the Slavic word star-, which means old.
Questions and Comments
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Any hints or rules or about which preposition should go with ‘sterben’ and when? Why sometimes ‘an’ and sometimes ‘durch’ or is this just one of those ones you have to learn by rote? Thanks
“an” is for illnesses and “imbalances” (like lack of oxygen or too much sugar).
“durch” is for outside influences like a punch on the head.
The lines are blurry, so take it as a trend, not a fixed rule.