An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/steif

by Friedrich Kluge

steif, adjective, ‘stiff, rigid, pedantic, formal,’ from Middle High German stîf, ‘stiff, fixed, upright, brave, stately’; probably a Middle German and Low German word. Compare Dutch stijf, Anglo-Saxon stîf (English stiff), Old Icelandic stîfr, ‘fixed, stiff.’ The Teutonic root stîf, in these cognates, occurs in the non-Teutonic languages as stîp; Latin stîpes. ‘stake, stick,’ Lithuanian stiprùs, ‘strong, firm,’ stìpti, ‘to become stiff.’ Compare also Stift.