stadium

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*steh₂-
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromστάδιον“a measure of length, a running track”
3. Latin · borrowed fromstadium“a measure of length, a race course”
4. English todaystadium

From Latin stadium (“a measure of length, a race course”) (commonly one-eighth of a Roman mile; translated in early English Bibles by furlong), from Ancient Greek στάδιον (stádion, “a measure of length, a running track”), especially the track at Olympia, which was one stadium in length. The Greek word may literally mean "fixed standard of length" (from στάδιος (stádios, “firm, fixed”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-, whence also stand and Latin stare). Doublet of stade, stadion, and estadio. Displaced native Old English spyrd.

Words from the same roots