staighre (Irish)
Where does "staighre" come from?
The Irish word 'staighre', meaning stairs or a stairway, is a borrowing from the Middle English noun 'steire'[1]. That word descended from Old English 'stǣġer', meaning stair or staircase, which traces back through Proto-West Germanic '*staigri' to the Proto-Germanic form '*staigriz', denoting stairs or scaffolding[1][4]. The ultimate source of the lineage is the Proto-Indo-European verbal root '*steygʰ-', which carried the sense of walking, marching, or climbing[1].
Open questions
- The intermediate early stages, including Proto-Germanic '*staigriz' and Proto-West Germanic '*staigri', are reconstructed forms rather than directly attested words. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Full etymology tree
- staighre (Irish), 'stairs (contiguous set of steps), a stairway'
- borrowed steire (Middle English), 'staircase, stairs'
- derived stæger (Old English), 'stair, step; staircase'
- inherited *staigri (Proto-West Germanic)
- inherited *staigriz (Proto-Germanic), 'scaffold, platform'
- derived *staigraz (Proto-Germanic), 'elevating'
- derived *steygʰ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to go'
- derived *staigraz (Proto-Germanic), 'elevating'
- inherited *staigriz (Proto-Germanic), 'scaffold, platform'
- inherited *staigri (Proto-West Germanic)
- derived stæger (Old English), 'stair, step; staircase'
- borrowed steire (Middle English), 'staircase, stairs'
Ancestors
- *steygʰ- (Proto-Indo-European)
- steire (Middle English)
- *staigriz (Proto-Germanic)
Cognates and doublets
- staidhre (Scottish Gaelic)
Sources
- staighre (Irish) - Wiktionary
- staigriz (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
- steire (Middle English) - Wiktionary
- stæger (Old English) - Wiktionary
- staigraz (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
Updated October 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris