Around
Middle English: from a-2 ‘in, on’ + round.
wiktionary
From Middle English around, arounde, from a- (from Old English a-(“on, at”)) + Middle English round(“circle, round”) borrowed from French, equivalent to a- + round. Cognate with Scots aroond, aroon(“around”). Displaced earlier Middle English umbe, embe(“around”) (from Old English ymbe(“around”)). See umbe.
etymonline
around (adv.)
c. 1300, "in circumference, in a circle, on every side," from phrase on round; see a- (1) + round (adj.). Rare before 1600. In sense of "here and there with no fixed direction" it is attested from 1776 in American English (British English prefers about). As a preposition, "on or along a circuit," late 14c.; "on all sides, encircling, about" 1660s; of time, by 1873. To have been around "gained worldly experience" is from 1927, U.S. colloquial; to get around to it is from 1864.
