An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Stamm

by Friedrich Kluge

Stamm, masculine, ‘stem, trunk, stock, tribe,’ from Middle High German and Old High German stam (mm), masculine, ‘trunk, pedigree, race, reason, cause’; corresponding to Dutch stam, Anglo-Saxon stemn (stœfn), English stem (see Steven), Old Icelandic stafn. The implied Teutonic stamno- (hardly for stabno-, allied to Stab), a derivative of the Aryan root stā̆, ‘to stand,’ is equivalent to Irish tamon (for *stamon-), ‘pedigree,’ and Greek στάμνος, ‘wine jar,’ the meaning of which recalls Modern High German Ständer.