astonen

Middle English

Etymology

Uncertain; either (1) in the earlier normal form *astunien, from Old English *āstunian, from ā- + stunian (“to resound”), or (2) from Old French estoner, from Latin as if *extono, equivalent to attonare (“to strike with a thunderbolt, stun, asonish”) (chiefly in pp. attonitus), from ex (“out”) + tono (“to thunder”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈstunən/

Verb

astonen (third-person singular simple present astoneth, present participle astonende, astonynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle astoned)

1. to astonish

References

• “astǒnen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “aston”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.