Originally the iterative (durative) form of *cert, from Proto-Baltic *kerti, from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“to cut; to strike”) (whence also cirst “to cut, to chop; to strike, to beat”, q.v.). The semantic evolution went from “to make fire, to burn, to heat” (probably via “to strike (wood, metal, to make) fire;” see ceri “heated stones for sauna, bath,” and also the cognate verb kurt “to make fire”) → “to feel, worry, think fierily, intensely” (probably also influenced by ķert “to catch, to grasp”, another reflex of *ker-) → “to love” (a meaning still attested for cerēt in folklore), and also “to turn one's (full) attention to something” → “to hope (for something).” Note that derived verbs often conserve the older meaning of “turning one's attention (to)”, “thinking:” atcerēties (“to remember”), apcerēt (“to consider, to contemplate”), iecerēt (“to plan, to intend”), sacerēt (“to write, to compose”).