Etymograph

English

staio

Staio comes from Italian staio ‘an ancient unit of surface area’, from Latin sextus ‘sixth’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs ‘six’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱs1‘six’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱstos1‘sixth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekstos1‘sixth’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextus1‘sixth’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextārius2‘sextarius, a Roman unit of liquid measure equivalent to about 0.54 L’
  6. Italianc. 1300–presentstaio3‘an ancient unit of surface area’
  7. Englishtodaystaio3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin sextarius
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Italian staio
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English staio

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱsWiktionary, Latin sextarius‘six’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱstosWiktionary, Latin sextarius‘sixth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekstosWiktionary, Latin sextarius‘sixth’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextusWiktionary, Latin sextarius‘sixth’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextāriusWiktionary, Italian staio‘sextarius, a Roman unit of liquid measure equivalent to about 0.54 L’
  6. Italianc. 1300–presentstaioWiktionary, English staio‘an ancient unit of surface area’
  7. EnglishtodaystaioWiktionary, English staio

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs ‘six’

six, hexane, 15 more

Today it means

noun fanega (various units of dry capacity and land area)

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “staio”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin sextarius, Italian staio. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs / staio

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