English
stalk
Stalk comes from Middle English stalke.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stalke
- Englishearliest quotation 1681stalk
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stalke
- Englishearliest quotation 1681stalk
Earliest quotation: 1681, Nehemiah Grew, London: […] W. Rawlins: “they appear to be made up of little Bladders…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *stel- ‘to place, stand’
local, location, allow, locate, stole, lieu, install, apostle, stool, loco, locus, locator, stall, epistle, stale, locative, stele, apostolate, stela, stell, stolid, 31 more
Another origin of stalk
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stalukōną‘to stalk, move stealthily’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*stalukōn‘to stalk’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*stealcian‘to step carefully or stealthily’reconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stalken‘to stalk’
- Englishtodaystalk
Another origin of stalk
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stelkazuncertain
- Old Englishc. 450–1150stealc‘steep’uncertain
- Englishtodaystalk
Attested 1530 in the sense "to walk haughtily", perhaps from Old English stealc (‘steep’), from Proto-Germanic *stelkaz, *stalkaz (‘high, lofty, steep, stiff’); see above.
Today it means
noun The stem or main axis of a plant.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English stalke / stalk