The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*steygʰ-“to go, climb”
- Proto-Germanic · derived from*stihtiz“a step, track, overpass”
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*stihtijan
- Old English · inherited fromstihtan
- Middle English · inherited fromstighten
- English todaystight
From Middle English stighten, stiȝten, from Old English stihtan, stihtian (“to dispose, arrange, regulate, direct, rule; instigate, incite”), from Proto-West Germanic *stihtijan, *stihtōn, from Proto-Germanic *stihtiz (“a step, track, overpass”), from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to go, climb”). Related to German stiften and Dutch stichten.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*steygʰ- all →
stairstyacrostic
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.