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Etymology and origin of the Old English word stig

stig1 path

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 850 Vespasian Psalter gloss
Inherited from
Proto-West Germanic *stīgu
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ-

Pronunciation

Forms

stīġ f (nominative plural stīga or stīġe)[1]

Etymology

The word for the path is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *stīgu, from Proto-Germanic *stīgō, a noun made to *stīganą (“to climb”), the source of Old English stīgan.[1][2] Wiktionary gives Middle Dutch stige and Old High German stiga as its cognates, and a masculine variant *stīgaz behind Old High German stīg and Old Norse stígr (“path”).[1][3]

Orel compares Latvian stiga (“path”) and Ancient Greek στίχος (stíkhos, “row”), and Holthausen lists the same words.[3][4] Köbler and Kroonen trace the verb to Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to stride, climb”).[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century, at Psalm 16: Gefreme gongas mine in stigum ðinum, “make my steps sure in your paths”, over the Latin “in semitis tuis”.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller define it as a narrow way or footpath, used both literally and figuratively; it glosses Latin callis, semita and trames.[9][5] In Beowulf the stone-paved road and the path lead the men to Heorot, and a path runs under the dragon's mound.[2] Charter bounds often run along a stīġ.[9][10] The Northumbrian Lindisfarne gloss uses it for semita in the Gospels.[11] Toller's Supplement notes that it is masculine in the Paris Psalter.[12]

It became Middle English stie “path”, recorded in the Ormulum.[13]

Timeline

  • s. ix med. – in stigum ðinum “in your paths” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.[7][8]
  • s. x³/⁴ – stigu for Latin semita in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.[14][11]
  • s. x/xi – stīg wīsode “the path showed the way” in the Beowulf manuscript.[15][2]
  • c. 1175 – Middle English stiȝhess “paths” in the Ormulum.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a narrow path, footpath, way.[9][16]
  2. a track or road, also figurative, a course.[9][5]

Word family

  • ċiriċstīġ
  • hēafodstīġ
  • medostīġ

Descendants

  • Middle English stye[1]

stig2 sty, hall

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 700 Épinal Glossary
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *stiją
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *stiją

Pronunciation

Forms

stiġ n (strong a-stem; genitive singular stiġes, nominative plural stiġu)[1]

Etymology

The word for the sty is inherited from Proto-Germanic *stiją.[1] Orel sets up a Proto-Germanic *stijōn with Old Norse stía (“sty, kennel”), Old Frisian stei, Middle Low German stege (“enclosure”) and Old High German stīga (“pen for sheep or goats”), and calls its origin uncertain.[17] De Vries derives the Old Norse words from Proto-Norse forms and puts them with words for stakes and fences under a root Proto-Indo-European *stey-.[18]

Köbler instead connects it with a root meaning “compress, crowd” (Pokorny 1010).[19] Wiktionary allows a link with stīġ1 “path”, or with Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”), the root of stān.[1] Holthausen also wonders about a link with the word for stone and with words for crowding and noise.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Épinal Glossary, written at the end of the seventh century or about 700: auriola stigu.[20][8] The same gloss is in the Corpus Glossary (s. ix¹).[21][8] Pheifer explains the Latin auriola as a word for a porch or hall, which here means “sty”.[22]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller define it as a wooden enclosure or sty, but also a part of a house, a hall, comparing stigweard.[9] Clark Hall gives “sty, pen” and “hall” from charters and glosses.[16] In charter bounds it names a sty.[10]

It lived on as Middle English sty “pigsty”, first in the Ancrene Wisse, now English sty.[13][1]

Timeline

  • s. vii ex. or vii/viii – auriola stigu in the Épinal Glossary.[20][8]
  • s. ix¹ – the same gloss in the Corpus Glossary.[21][8]
  • c. 1230 – Middle English isti of a pig penned in a sty, in the Ancrene Wisse.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a sty, pen, a wooden enclosure for animals.[9][16]
  2. a hall, part of a house.[9][19]

Word family

  • stigweard

Descendants

  • Middle English sty (→ English sty; Scots stie; Scots stye)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. stīġ
  3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 378
  4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 322
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. stīg
  6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 479
  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. 329
  8. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 919
  10. ^ a b LangScape: The Language of Landscape: Reading the Anglo-Saxon Countryside, King's College London, langscape.org.uk
  11. ^ a b Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer, p. s.v. stig
  12. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 712
  13. ^ a b c d 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. 291
  15. ^ 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. 344
  16. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 319
  17. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 377
  18. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 547
  19. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. stig
  20. ^ 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. 610
  21. ^ 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. 76
  22. ^ Pheifer, J. D. (1974), Old English Glosses in the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. gl. 45

Related etymologies

  • witan · also from Proto-Germanic
  • ofer · also from Proto-Germanic
  • of · also from Proto-Germanic
  • boc · also from Proto-Germanic
  • full · also from Proto-Germanic
  • wiþ · also from Proto-Germanic
  • þurh · also from Proto-Germanic
  • -tig · also from Proto-Germanic
Cite this entry

“Stig.” Etymologically, 16 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ang/stig. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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