An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/schreiten
schreiten, vb., ‘to step, stride, stalk,’ from the equiv. MidHG. schrîten, OHG. scrîtan, MidHG. also ‘to leap into the saddle.’ Comp. OSax. skrîðan, skrîdan, ‘to stride, go’ (ti-scrîdan, ‘to dissolve’), Du. schrijden, ‘to stride,’ AS. scrîðan, ‘to stride, go, wander’ (whence E. to stride is allied?), OIc. skrîða, ‘to crawl, glide.’ The signification of the OTeut. verbal root skrìþ (skrī̆d), Aryan skrī̆t, was at first general (perhaps ‘to move slowly’), in contrast to the special sense in ModHG.