Meaning and Origin
What does the name Stark mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
User Submitted Origins
User Submitted Meanings
- 2 people from Massachusetts, U.S. agree the name Stark means "strong".
- A submission from Finland says the name Stark means "Swedish for strong" and is of Swedish origin.
- A user from Australia says the name Stark is of German origin and means "Strongest Warrior".
- According to a user from California, U.S., the name Stark means "Of wealth".
- Stiff; rigid."Whose senses all were straight benumbed and stark." [Spenser.]"His heart gan wax as stark as marble stone." [Spenser.]"Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies." [Shak.]"The north is not so stark and cold." [B. Jonson.]
- Complete; absolute; full; perfect; entire.(Obs)"Consider the stark security The common wealth is in now." [B. Jonson.]
- Strong; vigorous; powerful."A stark, moss-trooping Scot." [Sir W. Scott.]" Stark beer, boy, stout and strong beer." [Beau. & Fl.]
- Severe; violent; fierce.(Obs)"In starkestours"Chaucer.
- Mere; sheer; gross; entire; downright."He pronounces the citation stark nonsense." [Collier.]"Rhetoric is very good or stark naught; there's no medium in rhetoric." [Selden.]
Etymology: OE. stark stiff, strong, AS. stearc; akin to OS. starc strong, D. sterk, OHG. starc starah, G. & Sw. stark, Dan. stærk, Icel. sterkr, Goth. gastaúrknan to become dried up, Lith. strëgti to stiffen, to freeze. Cf. Starch (a.) & (n.)
Note: ☞ According to Professor Skeat, “ stark-naked” is derived from steort-naked, or start-naked, literally tail-naked, and hence wholly naked. If this etymology be true the preferable form is stark-naked.
- Devoid of any qualifications or disguise or adornment ("facing the stark reality of the deadline")
- Providing no shelter or sustenance ("a stark landscape")
- Without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers ("stark staring mad")
- Complete or extreme ("stark poverty" and "a stark contrast")
- Severely simple ("a stark interior")
- Completely ("stark mad" and "mouth stark open")
From Middle English stark, starc, from Old English stearc, starc (“stiff, obstinate, severe, etc.”), from Proto-Germanic *starkaz, *starkuz (“stiff, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terg- (“rigid, stiff”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian sterc (“strong”), Dutch sterk (“strong”), Low German sterk (“strong”), German stark (“strong”), Danish stærk (“strong”), Swedish stark (“strong”), Norwegian sterk (“strong”), Icelandic sterkur (“strong”). Related to starch.
In the phrase stark naked: an alternation of start ("tail" or "rump"), a literal parallel to the modern butt naked.
From Middle English starken, from Old English stearcian (“to stiffen, become hard, grow stiff or hard”), from Proto-Germanic *starkōną, *starkēną (“to stiffen, become hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terg- (“rigid, stiff”). Cognate with German erstarken (“to strengthen”).
stark was also found in the following language(s): German, Low German, Old High German, and Swedish