An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/stecken

by Friedrich Kluge

Modern High German stecken, weak verb, ‘to stick, fix, put, place, conceal,’ from Middle High German and Old High German stecken, ‘to fasten by sticking, fix firmly,’ literally ‘to make something stick’; a recent factitive of stechen (properly *stakjan for *staikjan, from the root stik). From the intransit. meaning of Middle High German stecken, ‘to remain fast,’ is derived the equivalent Modern High German stecken, strong verb, ‘to stick, remain fast, be fixed.’ The Romance cognates, Italian stecco, ‘thorn,’ stecca, ‘staff,’ French etiquette, ‘ticket’ (on goods, &c.), are based on derivatives of the Teutonic root stik, stëk.