shtetl

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*stéh₂tis
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*stadiz
3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*stadi
4. Old High German · derived fromstat
5. Yiddish · borrowed fromשטעטל“small town, village”
6. English todayshtetl

From Yiddish שטעטל (shtetl, “small town, village”), from שטאָט (shtot, “city”) + ־ל (-l, “diminutive suffix”) (compare German Städtl, Swabian Städtele), from Old High German stat, from Proto-West Germanic *stadi, from Proto-Germanic *stadiz, from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis. Doublet of stead.

Words from the same roots