Etymology Dictionary

JERK,  to give a sudden movement, throw with a quick action.  (E.)   Cotgrave has:  'Fouetter, to scourge, lash, yerk, or jerke.'   In Shak. as a sb., L. L. L. iv. 2. 129.   'A ierk, verber;' Levins, ed. 1570.   'With that which jerks [lashes ?] the hams of every jade;' Bp. Hall, Satires, b. iii. sat. 5, l. 26.   Lowland Sc. yerk, to beat, strike smartly; a smart blow.   'To jerke or gerke;' Minsheu, ed. 1627.   Halliwell also gives:  'Girk, a rod; also, to beat.'   β. Another form is jert.   Cotgrave has:  'Attainte, a reach, hit, blow, stroke,... a gentle nip, quip, or jert, a sleight gird, or taxation.'   γ. Moreover, the words jert and gird were regarded as equivalent; thus Sherwood has, in his index to Cotgrave:  'A jert or gird, Attainte.'   The words jerk, jert, and gird are probably all connected, and all had once the same meaning, viz. to strike, esp. with a whip or rod.   δ. The only one of these three forms found in M.E. is girden, to strike; see gurden, in Stratmann.   The original of girden, to strike, is seen in A.S. gyrd, gierd, a rod; Grein, i. 536.   See Gird (2), Gride, and Yard.   ¶ It may be added that the usual meaning of jerk in old authors is to whip, to lash; as partly shewn above.   Der. jerk, sb. [†]

ADDENDA

We find jerts in the very sense of jerks, i.e. cuts with a whip, in Dodsley's O. Plays, ii. 194; also 'I jerted [i.e. smacked] my whip,' id. viii. 52.