An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/stottern

by Friedrich Kluge

stottern, verb, ‘to stutter, stammer,’ Modern High German only (in Swabian gaksen, Austrian štückezen), formed from Middle German and Low German, in which stotteren (so too in Dutch) is an intensive of stoten, ‘to push, thrust’ (stottern, literally ‘to stumble repeatedly’); corresponding to English to stutter. See the preceding word.