Etymology
1. Inherited from Middle English stonen, stone (“to astonish, stun, numb”, also stoneyen), probably either directly or indirectly from Anglo-Norman estoner (“to stun, astonish”), from Late Latin *stunāre, from Frankish *stunōn (“to thunder, crash”) or perhaps from an unattested Latin *extonāre (“to thunder out, make a thunderous sound”), from tonāre ("to thunder"; compare Latin attonāre). An alternative etymology derives stonen from Old English stunian (“to smash, thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *stunōn. See also astonish, astound.
2. Compare Swedish stöna (“to moan, groan”), Danish stønne (“to moan, groan”), Icelandic stynja (“to moan”), Occitan estonar (“to surprise”), and French étonner (“to surprise”), and more distantly, Dutch steunen (“to groan; support”), German stöhnen (“to groan, moan”), German staunen (“to be astonished, be amazed, marvel at”), and Russian стонать (stonatʹ), стена́ть (stenátʹ, “to moan, groan”). See: Middle English '
stonen', Middle English '
stonen', Anglo-Norman '
estoner', Latin '
attono', Old English '
stunian', Swedish '
stöna', Danish '
stønne', Icelandic '
stynja', Occitan '
estonar', French '
étonner', Dutch '
steunen', German, old spelling '
stöhnen', German, old spelling '
staunen', Russian '
стонать'.
Verbs referencing "stun"
Swedish
stöna.