adj.
Gaw store; WA store, sture
‘mighty; strong, severe; large’ (Modern English stour, stoor)
PGmc Ancestor
*stōra-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
stórr ‘big, great’
(ONP stórr (adj.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far stórur, Icel stór, Norw stor, Dan stor, Sw stor
OE Cognate
?stōr 'strong, great'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
BB2abc
First recorded in late OE (ChronE s.a. 1085; see Peters 98, SPS 325), and thereafter fairly widespread in ME, albeit esp. frequent in N and alliterative texts (inc. LB) (though on confusion with an ME stūr cognate with MLG stūr ‘rough, wild’ (etc.), see OED). EPNE regards the word as rare in place-names, both ‘in Scandinavia and the Danelaw’, and cites only Storeton, Chs. Recorded in various MnE dial, esp. Sc.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 1291, 1923; WA 745*, 1367, 1534 etc.
On the sense at Gaw 1291, see PSn. TPD WA emend store ben at WA 1702 to store-baned, following the D reading sture-baned.