Stumbling at the threshold
Stumbling at the threshold on your way out was an old English sign of trouble ahead. Some people went back to kick the stone, and at least one, the French judge Malesherbes, simply made a joke of it.
What it may mean
What people did after the stumble says more than the stumble itself. Bishop Hall, mocking the credulous, has his superstitious character trip on the doorstep and dread some mischief, and a Latin line quoted by Brand calls striking your foot on the threshold ominous. Others went after the culprit: Poor Robin's Almanack for 1695 laughed at people who turned back to kick the stone they had tripped on. And during the French Revolution the judge Malesherbes, stumbling on his way from prison to the tribunal, remarked that this boded ill and that a Roman would have turned back. Fear, blame or a dry joke: the same small trip leaves room for all three, and most people have a favorite.
Depending on how you saw it
Going back to kick the stone
Poor Robin's Almanack for 1695 offered a fool's cap to anyone who, after tripping on a stick or stone, turned back to kick it. Blaming the object is a very human reflex. When you trip over something, at the door or anywhere else, what do you blame first?
Arms full of groceries
With a laundry basket or bags of groceries in your arms, the step disappears from view and the toe finds the edge on its own. No old book is needed to explain that one. Where are you carrying so much that you cannot see where you are putting your feet?
A stumble at the start of something new
Brand cites Gaule's Mag-astromancer, which counted "the stumbling at first going about an enterprise" among empty omens. A clumsy start on a trip or in a new role can easily look like a verdict. What did you start clumsily that turned out fine anyway?
Why it happens in nature
Thresholds are often a raised strip or a small change in floor level, and people cross them while looking ahead, talking or carrying things. A foot that clears the floor by only a little catches the edge easily, so small trips in doorways happen often.
What folk beliefs say
England
Bishop Hall wrote of his superstitious character that "if he stumbled at the threshold, he feares a mischief."
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 249. View the page
England
Brand cites Melton's Astrologaster for the belief that a man who stumbles in the morning as soon as he comes out of doors will have an unlucky day.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 249. View the page
England
Poor Robin's Almanack for 1695 mocked those who stumbled at a stick or stone in the street and then turned back to kick it, as a charm against the bad omen.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 249. View the page
France (French Revolution)
When the French judge Malesherbes stumbled as he left prison for the revolutionary tribunal, he remarked: "It is a bad sign; a Roman would have turned back!"
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 1 (1903), vol. 1, p. 501. View the page
To reflect on
When something trips you up at the very start, which comes first for you: worry, blame or a joke?