Smertan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic Old English verb meaning to cause bodily or mental pain, to sting, hurt or smart
2. An Old English verb for inflicting suffering or causing a sharp, aching pain on someone or something
3. Used in early English to describe the act of making a person or creature feel hurt or distressed

Etymology: The Old English verb "smertan" meant "to hurt" or "to cause sharp pain," and it is the ancestor of modern English "smart." Its German relative, "Schmerz," still means pain itself, so the two languages kept the same root for the same sensation. English "smart" kept the sense of stinging, but it also branched. The idea of something sharp and stinging seems to have shifted toward something sharp and quick, and from there toward a quick, clever mind. Many of the later senses come from that single stem of sharpness and sting.