stagestage

Stage comes from Middle English stage, from Old French estage ‘dwelling, position’, from ester ‘to be standing’, from Latin stō ‘to stand’.

1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstō¹‘to stand’
2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CEestō¹uncertain
3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ester²‘to be standing, be located’
4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400estage²‘dwelling, position’
5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stage²‘the topmost story of a building’
6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606stage²

1. ¹ Wiktionary, Old French ester
2. ² Wiktionary, English stage
3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “When we are born, we cry that we are…”.