Etymograph

English

stasis

Stasis comes from Ancient Greek στάσις ‘standing stone, pillar’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steh₂-1‘to stand’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stéh₂tis2‘standing, position’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*státis2‘standing’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEστάσις3stásis‘standing stone, pillar’
  5. New Latinc. 1500–1900stasis3
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1976stasis3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek στάσις
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English stasis
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1976, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift: “Boredom is an instrument of social control. Power is…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steh₂-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis‘to stand’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stéh₂tisWiktionary, Ancient Greek στάσις‘standing, position’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*státisWiktionary, Ancient Greek στάσις‘standing’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEστάσιςWiktionary, English stasisstásis‘standing stone, pillar’
  5. New Latinc. 1500–1900stasisWiktionary, English stasis
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1976stasisWiktionary, English stasis. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1976, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift: “Boredom is an instrument of social control. Power is…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- ‘to stand’

system, state, post, rest, stay, stand, constitution, contest, stood, distance, stadium, instance, destination, stable, stem, establishment, testimony, destiny, consistent, stability, establish, instant, substance, assistant, assistance, static, prostitution, distant, resist, assist, stud, prostitute, persistent, insist, stationary, consist, stool, substitution, attest, extant, 155 more

through Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis ‘standing, position’

stead, stade, 11 more

Today it means

noun A slackening or arrest of the blood current, due not to a lessening of the heart’s beat, but to some abnormal resistance of the capillary walls.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stasis”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis, Ancient Greek στάσις. 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 *steh₂- / stasis

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