Etymograph

English

stack

Stack comes from Old Norse stakkr ‘a barn’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *stogʰ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stogʰ-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stakkaz‘a barn’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350stakkr‘a barn’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stack
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1631same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stogʰ-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stakkaz‘a barn’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350stakkr‘a barn’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stack
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1631same form

Earliest quotation: 1631, Francis Bacon, III. Century. [Experiments in Consort Touching the Reflexion: “There was againſt euery Pillar, a Stacke of Billets,…”

The story

The data structure sense is a calque of Dutch stapel, introduced by Edsger W.

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *stakkaz ‘a barn’

staccato

Today it means

noun A large pile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, larger at the bottom than the top, sometimes covered with thatch.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *stogʰ- / stack

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