See also: Stern   Wikipedia has articles on:   Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English stern, sterne, sturne, from Old English
styrne (stern, grave, strict, austere, hard, severe, cruel),
from Proto-Germanic *sturnijaz (angry, astonished, shocked),
from Proto-Indo-European *ster-, *ter- (rigid, stiff). Cognate
with Scots stern (bold, courageous, fierce, resolute), Old High
German stornēn (to be astonished), Dutch stuurs (glum, austere),
Swedish stursk (insolent).    stern (comparative sterner,
superlative sternest)    1. Having a hardness and severity of
nature or manner.     • John Dryden       stern as tutors, and
as uncles hard   2. Grim and forbidding in appearance.
Etymology 2Edit  Most likely from Old Norse stjórn (control,
steering), related to stýra (to steer), from Proto-Germanic
*stiurijaną, whence also English steer. Also possibly from Old
Frisian stiarne (rudder), from the same Germanic root.
Wikipedia has an article on:   stern (plural sterns)    1.
(nautical) The rear part or after end of a ship