An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/stehen
stehen, verb, ‘to stand, remain,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German stên, strong verb; besides the root stai, which may be deduced from this verb, Middle High German and Old High German stân indicates another root. The form of this root stai (stâ) was extended to stand (staþ), from which most of the dialects form the present stem; compare Gothic standan, Anglo-Saxon standan, English to stand (English to stay is derived from Romance; compare Old French estaier), Old High German stantan, Middle High German (rarely) standen. The present stem was, in the Teutonic group, formed from the root stand while the substantival derivatives were chiefly based on the Aryan root stā̆ (compare Stadt, Statt, stetig). This recurs (as in the case of kommen, gehen, sitzen) in all the Aryan languages in the same sense. Compare Sanscrit sthâ, Greek ἱ τάναι, Latin stâre, Old Slovenian stati, ‘to stand.’