Etymologically
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staca

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 18:28. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈstɑ.kɑ/[1]

Forms

staca m (weak; genitive singular stacan, nominative plural stacan)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *stakō, from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake”).[1] Its cognates include Old Norse hvatstaki, the name of a kind of weapon, Middle Low German stake (“pole”) and Middle High German stache.[2] Holthausen adds Old Frisian staka and, with another vowel, Old Norse stjaki and Old High German stehho.[3][4]

Orel derives it from the verb Proto-Germanic *stekaną (“to stick”) and compares Lithuanian stãgaras (“dry stalk”) and Proto-Slavic *stožerъ (“stack-pole”).[2] Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain: probably a root Proto-Indo-European *stegʰ- (“bar, pillar, rod”), or a formation from the verb;[1][3][5] Holthausen and Köbler follow the older root Proto-Indo-European *steg- (“pole, stick”).[1][3][5]

It is a weak masculine noun, with the oblique cases in ⟨-an⟩.[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old English Orosius (Tollemache manuscript, s. x¹ or x²/⁴) tells how the Romans marked out the site of a new Carthage: þære ilcan niht þe mon on dæg hæfde þa burg mid stacum gemearcod … wulfas atugan þa stacan up “the same night after the city had been marked out with stakes by day … wolves pulled up the stakes”.[7][8] Bald's Leechbook (s. x med.) has a remedy in which two stakes are driven in at a man's shoulders, drif II stacan æt þam eaxlum.[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The word names a stake or post, and Clark Hall adds a pin.[6][10] It marks out ground in the Orosius and in Æthelstan's laws, which measure nine feet from the stake to the mark at the ordeal.[6][11] In Ælfric's Life of Oswald the king's head is set on a stake.[6] Bosworth and Toller take drīfan stacan on in the penitentials and in a charter for a form of witchcraft, piercing a figure of the person to be harmed, and Sweet describes it in the same way.[6][12]

It lived on as Middle English stake, where the MED records it as a piece of wood, a splinter and a staff; it is now English stake.[13][4]

Timeline

  • s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – þa burg mid stacum gemearcod in the Old English Orosius.[7][8]
  • s. x med. – drif II stacan æt þam eaxlum in Bald's Leechbook.[9][8]
  • s. xi in. – a head set on stacan in Ælfric's Life of Oswald.[14][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a stake, post, pole.[6][5]
  2. a pin.[10]
  3. drīfan stacan on to pierce someone with a pin or stake, a form of witchcraft.[6][12]

Word family

  • stacung

Descendants

  • Middle English stake (→ English stake; Scots stak; Scots staik)[1]
  • stician
  • stecca

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 370
  3. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 314
  4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. staca
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 906
  7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 249
  8. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 412
  10. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 317
  11. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 200
  12. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 181
  13. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  14. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 282