Struggle
late Middle English: frequentative, perhaps of imitative origin. The noun dates from the late 17th century.
wiktionary
From Middle English struglen, stroglen, strogelen, of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots strugil(“to struggle, grapple, contend”). Perhaps from a variant of *strokelen, *stroukelen(> English stroll), from Middle Dutch struyckelen("to stumble, trip, falter"; > Modern Dutch struikelen), the frequentative form of Old Dutch *strūkon(“to stumble”), from Proto-Germanic *strūkōną, *strūkēną(“to be stiff”), from Proto-Indo-European *strug-, *ster-(“to be stiff; to bristle, strut, stumble, fall”), related to Middle Low German strûkelen("to stumble"; > Low German strükeln), Old High German strūhhēn, strūhhōn("to stumble, trip, tumble, go astray"; > German strauchen, straucheln).
Alternative etymology derives the base of struggle from Old Norse strúgr(“arrogance, pride, spitefulness, ill-will”) + -le(frequentative suffix), from Proto-Germanic *strūkaz(“stiff, rigid”), ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European root above, which would make it cognate with dialectal Swedish strug(“contention, strife, discord”), Norwegian stru(“obstinate, unruly”), Danish struende(“reluctantly”), Scots strug(“difficulty, perplexity, a laborious task”).
etymonline
struggle (v.)
late 14c., of uncertain origin, probably a frequentative form with -el (3) (compare trample, wrestle), but the first element is of uncertain origin. Skeat suggests Old Norse strugr "ill will;" others suggest a connection to Dutch struikelen, German straucheln "to stumble." Related: Struggled; struggling.
struggle (n.)
1690s, from struggle (v.).
