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Origin and history of sty

sty(n.1)

"pen for pigs," Middle English sti, from Old English sti, stig "hall, pen" (as in sti-fearh "sty-pig"), from Proto-Germanic *stijan (source also of Old Norse stia "sty, kennel," svinsti "pig-pen," Danish sti, Swedish stia "pen for swine, sheep, goats, etc.," Old High German stiga "pen for small cattle"). It is probably related to Old English stig "path, narrow way," for which see sty (v.).

The transferred meaning "place of filth or degradation" is by mid-15c. with reference to Hell; as "filthy hovel, human habitation as foul as a pig-pen" by 1590s.

sty(n.2)

"inflamed swelling in the eyelid," 1610s, probably a back-formation from styany (as though sty on eye), (mid-15c., stianie), which is from Old English stigend "sty," literally "riser," from present participle of stigan "go up, rise," from Proto-Germanic *stigan, from PIE root *steigh- "to stride, step, rise" (see stair).

also from 1610s

sty(v.)

Middle English stien, "go up, ascend," also sometimes "go down," from Old English stigan (past tense stah, past participle stigun), from Proto-Germanic *steiganan (source also of Old Norse, Old Frisian stiga, Middle Dutch stighen, Old Saxon, Old High German stigan, German steigen, Gothic steigan), from PIE root *steigh- "go, rise, stride, step, walk" (see stair). Obsolete, but very common in Middle English, with up, on, or down.

Entries linking to sty

stair(n.)

Middle English steir, from Old English stæger "stair, staircase, flight of steps arranged one behind and above the other," from Proto-Germanic *staigri (source also of Middle Dutch stegher, Dutch steiger "a stair, step, quay, pier, scaffold;" German Steig "path," Old English stig "narrow path").

This is reconstructed to be from PIE *steigh- "go, rise, stride, step, walk" (source also of Greek steikhein "to go, march in order," stikhos "row, line, rank, verse;" Sanskrit stighnoti "mounts, rises, steps;" Old Church Slavonic stignati "to overtake," stigna "place;" Lithuanian staiga "suddenly;" Old Irish tiagaim "I walk;" Welsh taith "going, walk, way").

Originally also a collective plural; stairs developed by late 14c., and stair as "one of a succession of steps leading from one floor to another" is by 1520s. The figurative sense of "step in an ascending or descending scale" is from c. 1200.

ascend(v.)

late 14c., ascenden, "move upward," from Latin ascendere "to climb up, mount," of planets, constellations, "come over the horizon," figuratively "to rise, reach;" from ad "to" (see ad-) + scandere "to climb" (see scan (v.)).

The meaning "slope upward" is from 1832. Related: Ascended; ascending. An Old English word for it was stigan (see sty (v.)).

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Trends of sty

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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steward

Middle English steuard, steward, "official in charge of the domestic affairs of a (large) household," from Old English stiward, stigweard "one who has charge of the affairs of the household or estate of another," from stig "hall, pen for cattle, part of a house" (see sty (n.1)) +

infection

late 14c., "infectious disease; contaminated condition;" from Old French infeccion "contamination, poisoning" (13c.) and directly from Late Latin infectionem (nominative infectio) "infection, contagion," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin inficere "to spoil, to sta

pen

late 13c., penne, "writing implement made from the hard, hollow stem at the base of a feather," from Old French pene "quill pen; feather" (12c.) and directly from Latin penna "a feather, plume," in plural "a wing," in Late Latin, "a pen for writing," from Old Latin petna, pesna,

eye

c. 1200, from Old English ege (Mercian), eage (West Saxon) "eye; region around the eye; apperture, hole," from Proto-Germanic *augon (source also of Old Saxon aga, Old Frisian age, Old Norse auga, Swedish öga, Danish øie, Middle Dutch oghe, Dutch oog, Old High German ouga, German

hamper

late 14c., hampren "surround, imprison, confine; pack in a container; impede in motion or progress," of uncertain origin; probably from hamper (n.1), unless it is somehow connected to Middle English hamelian "to maim." Related: Hampered; hampering...."large basket," early 14c., h

agony

late 14c., "mental suffering" (especially that of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane), from Old French agonie, agoine "anguish, terror, death agony" (14c.), and directly from Late Latin agonia, from Greek agōnia "a struggle for victory" (in wrestling, etc.), in a general sense "e

dearth

c. 1300, derthe "scarcity of food," of other situations of scarcity by mid-14c., abstract noun from root of Old English deore "precious, costly" (see dear) + abstract noun suffix -th (2). A common Germanic formation, though not always with the same sense (Old Saxon diurtha "splen

posh

by 1914 (1903 as push), a word of uncertain origin, but there is no evidence for the common derivation from an acronym of port outward, starboard home, supposedly the shipboard accommodations of wealthy British traveling to India on the P & O Lines (to keep their cabins out o

desultory

1580s, "skipping about, jumping, flitting" in a figurative sense, from Latin desultorius "hasty, casual, superficial," adjective form of desultor (n.) "a rider in the circus who jumps from one horse to another while they are in gallop," from desul-, stem of desilire "jump down,"

mundane

mid-15c., mondeine, "of this world, worldly, terrestrial," from Old French mondain "of this world, worldly, earthly, secular;" also "pure, clean; noble, generous" (12c.) and directly from Late Latin mundanus "belonging to the world" (as distinct from the Church), in classical Lat

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