An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Stahl

by Friedrich Kluge

Stahl, masculine, ‘steel,’ from the equivalent Middle High German stahel, masculine and neuter (contracted stâl, with the variant stachel), Old High German stahal (stâl, *stahhal); corresponding to Dutch staal, Anglo-Saxon stŷle, steli, neuter, English steel, and the equivalent Old Icelandic stâl (Gothic *stakla-), neuter. A pre-Teutonic form staklo- is implied by the cognate Old Prussian stakla, ‘steel.’ Other corresponding terms are wanting in the Aryan languages (so too in the case of Geld and Silber the Teutonic terms are related only to the Slavonic).