stage English · revision 2581

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1250|origins=la stāre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /steɪdʒ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|stage]], [[bor|fro|estage|t=dwelling, stay; storey; stage for performance]] with the first vowel lost by [[aphesis]], modern French [[m|fr|étage|t=storey]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002) from [[la-vul|*staticum|t=a place for standing]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) from [[la|stāre|t=to stand]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[ine-pro|*steh₂-|alt=*sta-|t=to stand]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) The etymological notion is “something to stand on”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A storey or floor of a building: about 1250,^(Barnhart 1988) or before 1300.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A raised platform for public display is from the early 14th century,^(Etymonline) or before 1325 in the ''Cursor Mundi'',^(Barnhart 1988) and a platform for speakers or plays from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) The stage as the acting profession is from the 1580s.^(Etymonline) A period of development in life is by the early 14th century, probably from the sense of a step on the “ladder” of virtue or the “wheel” of fortune in parables and morality plays.^(Etymonline) A single step in a process, and a stage of a journey, are by the late 14th century, hence a roadside stopping place, about 1600, as in ''stagecoach''.^(Etymonline) The verb meant “to build” in the 14th century;^(Etymonline) “to represent on stage” is from about 1600, “to put on a play” by 1879, and “to mount” an attack or comeback from 1924.^(Etymonline) ''Stage name'' is from 1727.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1250 – a storey (''Cursor Mundi'').^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * early 14th century – a raised platform; a period of life.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 14th century – a theatre stage; a step in a process.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1580s – the acting profession.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1600 – a stopping place; verb, to put on stage.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1727 – ''stage name''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1879 – verb, to produce a play.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1924 – verb, to mount an action.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A raised platform, especially one on which plays are performed, and ''the stage'', the theatre as a profession.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # The scene of an event: ''the political stage''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A level or step in a process; a period of development.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A section of a journey; a [[stagecoach]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A section of a [[rocket]] with its own engine.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To present on a stage; to produce a play.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To arrange and carry out: ''stage a protest''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[stageable]]

+ * [[backstage]]

+ * [[downstage]]

+ * [[forestage]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[stand]]

+ * [[state]]

+ * [[station]]

+ * [[static]]

+ * [[stagecoach]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ An obsolete adjective ''stage'', of a fur, “raw, unseasoned”, is of unknown origin,^(SOED 2002) and in Lincolnshire dialect ''stage'' meant “staid, mature”.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}