英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

wave [wave 词源字典]: wave: English has two words wave, distinct in origin, which have grown to resemble each other over the centuries. The verb, ‘move to and fro’ [OE], goes back to a prehistoric Germanic base *wab-, which also produced English waver [14] (borrowed from Old Norse vafra ‘move unsteadily’) and wobble [17]. The noun wave ‘movement of the sea’ [16] seems to be an alteration (under the influence of the verb wave) of an earlier wawe ‘wave’. This in turn probably went back to Old English wǣg ‘motion, wave’, a derivative of the verb which produced modern English wag.
=> waver, wobble; wag[wave etymology, wave origin, 英语词源]
dawdle (v.): 1650s, perhaps a variant of daddle "to walk unsteadily." Perhaps influenced by daw, because the bird was regarded as sluggish and silly. Not in general use until c. 1775. Related: Dawdled; dawdling.
halt (v.2): "to walk unsteadily, move with a limping gait," early 14c., from Old English haltian (Anglian), healtian (West Saxon), "to limp, be lame; to hesitate," from Proto-Germanic *halton (cognates: Old Saxon halton, Middle Dutch halten, Old High German halzen), derivative verb from the source of halt (adj.). Figurative use from early 15c. Related: Halted; halting.
shamble (v.): "to walk with a shuffling gait, walk awkwardly and unsteadily," 1680s, from an adjective meaning "ungainly, awkward" (c. 1600), from shamble (n.) "table, bench" (see shambles), perhaps on the notion of the splayed legs of bench, or the way a worker sits astride it. Compare French bancal "bow-legged, wobbly" (of furniture), properly "bench-legged," from banc "bench." The noun meaning "a shambling gait" is from 1828. Related: Shambled; shambling.
stagger (v.): mid-15c., "walk unsteadily, reel" (intransitive), altered from stakeren (early 14c.), from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Danish stagra, Old Norse stakra "to push, shove, cause to reel," also "to stumble, stagger," perhaps literally "hit with a stick," from Proto-Germanic *stakon- "a stake," from PIE *steg- (1) "pole, stick." Cognate with Dutch staggelen "to stagger," German staggeln "to stammer." Transitive sense of "bewilder, amaze" first recorded 1550s; that of "arrange in a zig-zag pattern" is from 1856. Related: Staggered; staggering.
swag (v.): "to move heavily or unsteadily," 1520s, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse sveggja "to swing, sway," from the same source as Old English swingan "to swing" (see swing (v.)). Related: Swagged; swagging.
swim (v.): Old English swimman "to move in or on the water, float" (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle swummen), from Proto-Germanic *swimjan (cognates: Old Saxon and Old High German swimman, Old Norse svimma, Dutch zwemmen, German schwimmen), from PIE root *swem- "to be in motion."

The root is sometimes said to be restricted to Germanic, but according to OED possible cognates are Welsh chwyf "motion," Old Irish do-sennaim "I hunt," Lithuanian sundyti "to chase." For the usual Indo-European word, see natatorium. Transitive sense of "cross by swimming" is from 1590s. Sense of "reel or move unsteadily" first recorded 1670s; of the head or brain, from 1702. Figurative phrase sink or swim is attested from mid-15c., in early use often with reference to ordeals of suspected witches.
teeter (v.): 1843, "to seesaw," alteration of Middle English titter "move unsteadily," probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse titra "to shake, shiver, totter, tremble," from Proto-Germanic *ti-tra- (cognates: German zittern "to tremble"). Meaning "move unsteadily, be on the edge of imbalance" is from 1844. Noun teeter-totter "see-saw" is attested from 1905 (earlier simply teeter, 1855, and titter-totter in same sense is from 1520s). Totter (n.) "board swing" is recorded from late 14c.; see totter (v.).
unsteady (adj.): 1590s, "not firm or secure in position," from un- (1) "not" + steady (adj.). Similar formation in Old Frisian unstadich, German unstätig, Middle Dutch onstadich. Meaning "marked by irregularity" is from 1680s. Related: Unsteadily (1550s).
vacillate (v.): 1590s, "to sway unsteadily," from Latin vacillatus, past participle of vacillare "sway to and fro; hesitate" (see vacillation). Meaning "to waver between two opinions or courses" is recorded from 1620s. Related: Vacillated; vacillates; vacillating.
wobble (v.): 1650s, wabble, probably from Low German wabbeln "to wobble;" cognate with Old Norse vafla "hover about, totter," related to vafra "move unsteadily," from Proto-Germanic *wab- "to move back and forth," perhaps from PIE *webh- "to weave" (see waver). Form with -o- is from 1851. Related: Wobbled; wobbling. The noun is attested from 1690s.