An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Stall

by Friedrich Kluge

Stall, masculine, ‘stall, stable, sty,’ from Middle High German stal (ll), masculine and neuter, ‘standing or dwelling place, spot, stable,’ Old High German stal (ll), masculine, ‘stable, spot’; properly identical with Stelle. The two senses of the Old High German word are ramifications of a primary meaning, ‘standing-place.’ Corresponding to Dutch stal, ‘stable, stall,’ Anglo-Saxon steall, ‘stable, standing-place,’ English stall. The cognates (whence also stellen) are connected with the Aryan root stal, appearing in Stuhl. From Teutonic stallo- are derived the Romance cognates, Italian stallo, ‘spot,’ French étal, ‘butcher's bench,’ étau, ‘butcher's stall,’ Italian stalla, ‘stable,’ Italian stallone, French étalon, and the equivalent English stallion.