star
A luminous celestial body visible as a point of light in the night sky.
Etymology
From Old English steorra, from Proto-Germanic *sternō, from PIE *h₂stḗr "star." This root is remarkably consistent across Indo-European: Latin stella (from *stēlā, a variant), Greek astḗr, Sanskrit stṛ́. It gives us "stellar," "asterisk," "asteroid," "astronomy," "astronaut," "disaster" (Italian dis- "bad" + astro "star" — "bad star"), and "constellation."
The Journey: *h₂stḗr → star
*h₂stḗr
*sternō
steorra
sterre
star
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *h₂stḗr. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Greek | astḗr |
| Latin | stella |
| Hittite | ḫasterza |
| Armenian | astł |
| Sanskrit | stṛ́ |
| Old Irish | ser |
| Lithuanian | žvaigždė (replaced) |
| Tocharian B | ścirye |
Did You Know?
A disaster is literally a "bad star" — from Italian disastro (dis- "bad" + astro "star"), reflecting the ancient belief that catastrophes were caused by unfavourable stellar alignments. Astronaut means "star sailor," and asterisk means "little star."
This word descends from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂stḗr. See the full root page for descendant trees, sound law references, and scholarly discussion.