sprint

Sprint is an alteration of the earlier English word sprent ("to leap; bound; dart"), which came through Northern Middle English sprenten from Old Norse *sprenta. That Norse verb was a causative form built on Proto-Germanic *sprintaną ("to jump up; bounce"), itself from Proto-Indo-European *sprend-/*sprendʰ- ("to flinch; jump"), rooted in *sper- ("to twitch; fidget; flinch; jump; be quick").

The word began as sprent, meaning to leap or bound, before shifting in form to the sprint we use today — the meaning of quick, darting movement stayed remarkably consistent from the Old Norse causative all the way through.

It's cognate with Icelandic spretta ("to spring forth; emerge; arise; develop"), Swedish spritta ("to startle"), and Middle High German sprenzen ("to sprinkle; splash") — all tracing back to that same ancient sense of a sudden, twitchy motion.