astonish

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English

Etymology

From an alteration (due to words ending in -ish: abolish, banish, cherish, establish, furnish, etc.) of earlier astony, astone, aston, astun (“to astonish, confound, stun”), from Middle English astonien, astunien, astonen, astunen, astounen (“to astound, stun, astonish”), of uncertain origin, possibly from Old English *āstunian, from ā- (perfective prefix) + stunian (“to make a loud sound, crash, resound, roar, bang, dash, impinge, knock, confound, astonish, stupefy”), from Proto-Germanic *stunōną (“to sound, crash, bang, groan”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)ton- (“to thunder, roar, groan”), equivalent to a- +‎ stun. Compare German erstaunen (“to astonish, amaze”). Another possible source, or else influence, is Old French estoner, estuner, estonuer, estonner (“to stun”), either from an assumed Vulgar Latin *extonāre (“to strike with thunder, daze, stupefy, stun”) from *extonō (ex +‎ tono), or from Old Frankish *stunen (“to stun”), related to Middle High German stunen (“to knock, strike, stun”) and then, if not the source, still a cognate of the word astound.

Pronunciation

Verb

astonish (third-person singular simple present astonishes, present participle astonishing, simple past and past participle astonished)

  1. To surprise greatly.
    • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: for T Egerton, , →OCLC:
      "I have no right to give my opinion," said Wickham, "as to his being agreeable or otherwise. I am not qualified to form one. I have known him too long and too well to be a fair judge. It is impossible for me to be impartial. But I believe your opinion of him would in general astonish — and perhaps you would not express it quite so strongly anywhere else. Here you are in your own family."

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