stack

Where does the word "stack" come from? It comes from Old Norse stakkr, passing through Middle English before entering English (1500s).

Stack’s story begins in Old Norse: stakkr meant “haystack.” A haystack. By 1300s, the word had taken hold in Middle English as stak. Borrowed in the Danelaw of northern England. It reached English by 1500s as stack. Orkney's and Shetland's pillar-rocks are still called sea stacks. Today, stack means a pile of things placed one on top of another.

1. Stage 1 · Old Norse · medieval stakkr "haystack", a haystack.
2. Stage 2 · Middle English · 1300s stak "pile of hay", borrowed in the Danelaw of northern England.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1500s stack "pile", Orkney's and Shetland's pillar-rocks are still called sea stacks.