Online Etymology Dictionary

stock (n.2): "supply for future use" (1428), "sum of money" (1463), M.E. developments of stock (n.1), but the ultimate sense connection is uncertain. Perhaps the notion is of the "trunk" from which gains are an outgrowth, or obs. sense of "money-box" (c.1400). Meaning "subscribed capital of a corporation" is from 1612. Stock-broker is from 1706; stock exchange is from 1773. The verb meaning "to supply (a store) with stock" is from 1622; in stock "in the possession of a trader" is from 1618. Meaning "broth made by boiling meat or vegetables" is from 1764. Theatrical use, in ref. to a company regularly acting together at a given theater, is attested from 1761. In ref. to conversation or literature, "recurring, commonplace" (e.g. stock phrase), it is attested from 1738, on notion of "kept in store for constant use." Taking stock "making an inventory" is attested from 1736. As the collective term for the movable property of a farm, it is recorded from 1519; hence livestock (1523).
stock market: "place where securities are bought and sold, 1809, from stock (n.2) + market. [The original "Stock Market" (c.1350) was a fish and meat market in the City of London on or near the later site of Mansion House, so called perhaps because it occupied the site of a former stocks.]
stocky: c.1400, "made of wood," from stock (n.1). Of plants, "of stout and sturdy growth" (not weedy) it is recorded from 1620s. Of persons, "thick-set," 1670s, suggestive of tree trunks, but cf. also stock in sense of "trunk of the human body" (late 14c.).
stock car: racing car with a basic chassis of an ordinary commercially produced vehicle, 1914, Amer.Eng., from stock (n.2) + car.
stock (n.1): O.E. stocc "stump, post, stake, tree trunk, log," also "pillory" (usually plural, stocks), from P.Gmc. *stukkaz "tree trunk" (cf. O.N. stokkr "block of wood, trunk of a tree," O.S., O.Fris. stok, M.Du. stoc "tree trunk, stump," Du. stok "stick, cane," O.H.G. stoc "tree trunk, stick," Ger. Stock "stick, cane;" also Du. stuk, Ger. Stück "piece"), from PIE *(s)teu- (see steep (adj.)). Meaning "ancestry, family" (late 14c.) is a figurative use of the "tree trunk" sense (cf. family tree). This is also the root of the meaning "heavy part of a tool," and "part of a rifle held against the shoulder" (1540s). Stock, lock, and barrel "the whole of a thing" is recorded from 1817. Meaning "framework on which a boat was constructed" (early 15c.) led to figurative phrase on stocks "planned and commenced" (1660s). Stock-still (late 15c.) is lit. "as still as a tree trunk."
stocking: "close-fitting garment covering the foot and leg," 1583, from stocka "leg covering, stock," from O.E. stocu "sleeve," related to O.E. stocc "trunk, log" (see stock (n.1)). Probably so called because of a fancied resemblance of legs to tree trunks, or a reference to the punishing stocks. Cognates include O.N. stuka, O.H.G. stuhha, from the same P.Gmc. source. Restriction to women's hose is 20c. As a receptacle for Christmas presents, attested from 1853; hence stocking stuffer first recorded 1976.
stocks: instrument of punishment, early 14c., from stock (n.1).
stockpile (n.): 1872, from stock (n.2) + pile. Originally a term in mining. The verb is attested from 1921. Extended to general use during World War II.
Stockholm Syndrome: 1978, a psychologists' term; the name derives from the Aug. 23, 1973, violent armed robbery of Sveriges Kreditbank in Stockholm, Sweden, after which four bank employees were held hostage in a vault for more than five days. The hostages developed a dramatic attachment to their abuser, and a fear of would-be rescuers, that they could not explain. The city arose mid-13c. from a fishing village; the second element in the name is holm "island;" the first is either stäk "bay" or stock "stake, pole."
laughing-stock: also laughingstock; 1510s, formed by analogy with whipping-stock "whipping post," later also "object of frequent whipping" (but that word is not attested in writing in this sense until 1670s).
tiller: mid-14c., "stock of a crossbow," from O.Fr. telier "stock of a crossbow" (c.1200), originally "weaver's beam," from M.L. telarium, from L. tela "web, loom," from PIE *teks-la-, from base *teks- "to weave" (see texture). Meaning "bar to turn the rudder of a boat" first recorded 1620s.
bourse: "stock exchange," 1570s, burse, from O.Fr. borse "money bag, purse" (12c.), from M.L. bursa "a bag" (see purse). Fr. spelling and modern sense of "exchange for merchants" is first recorded 1845, from the name of the Paris stock exchange. The term originated because in 13c. Bruges the sign of a purse (or perhaps three purses), hung on the front of the house where merchants met.
blue chip: high value poker counter, from 1904 in the figurative sense of "valuable;" stock exchange sense, in reference to "shares considered a reliable investment," is first recorded 1929.
genus: (pl. genera), 1551 as a term of logic (biological sense dates from 1608), from L. genus (gen. generis) "race, stock, kind," cognate with Gk. genos "race, kind," and gonos "birth, offspring, stock," from PIE base *gen-/*gon-/*gn- "produce, beget, be born" (cf. Skt. janati "begets, bears," janah "race," jatah "born;" Avestan zizanenti "they bear;" Gk. gignesthai "to become, happen;" L. gignere "to beget," gnasci "to be born," genius "procreative divinity, inborn tutelary spirit, innate quality," ingenium "inborn character," germen "shoot, bud, embryo, germ;" Lith. gentis "kinsmen;" Goth. kuni "race;" O.E. cennan "beget, create;" O.H.G. kind "child;" O.Ir. ro-genar "I was born;" Welsh geni "to be born").
Wall Street: "U.S. financial world," 1836, from street in New York City that is home to many investment firms and stock traders, as well as NYSE. The street so called because it ran along the interior of the defensive wall of the old Dutch colonial town.
moonraker: a name traditionally given to Wiltshire people, attested from 1787, is from the stock joke about fools who mistook the reflection of the moon in a pond for a cheese and tried to rake it out. But as told in Wiltshire, the men were surprised trying to rake up kegs of smuggled brandy, and put off the revenuers by acting foolish.
overstock (v.): 1649, from over + stock (v.). The noun is attested from 1710.
scrip: "a certificate of a right to receive something (esp. a stock share)," 1762, probably shortened from (sub)scrip(tion) receipt. Originally "receipt for a portion of a loan subscribed," meaning "certificate issued as currency" first recorded 1790.
bullish: 1560s, from bull (1) + -ish; stock market sense is from 1882.
thoroughbred (adj.): 1701, of persons, "thoroughly accomplished," from thorough + past tense of breed. In the horse sense of "of pure breed or stock" it dates from 1796; the noun is first recorded 1842.
stucco: 1598, from It. stucco, from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. stukki "crust, piece, fragment;" see stock (n.1)). The verb is attested from 1726.
livestock: 1520s, from live (adj.) + stock (n.2).
ticker: 1821, "something that ticks," from tick (2); slang meaning "heart" first recorded 1930. Ticker tape (1902) is from ticker "telegraphic device for recording stock market quotations, etc." (1883).
slump (v.): 1677, "fall or sink into a muddy place," probably from a Scand. source, cf. Norw. and Dan. slumpe "fall upon," Swed. slumpa; perhaps ultimately of imitative origin. The noun meaning "heavy decline in prices on the stock exchange" is from 1888; generalized to "sharp decline in trade or business" 1922.
maulstick: "light stick used by painters to support the painting hand," 1650s, from Du. maalstok, from mallen "to paint" + stock "stick."
heterogeneous: 1624, from Gk. heterogenes, from heteros "different" + genos "kind, gender, race stock" (see genus).
repertoire: "a stock of plays, songs, etc.," 1847, from Fr. répertoire, from L.L. repertorium "inventory" (see repertory).
phylum: "division of the plant or animal kingdom," 1876, from Mod.L., coined by Fr. naturalist Georges Léopole Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron Cuvier (1769-1832) from Gk. phylon "race, stock," related to phyle "tribe, clan," and phylein "bring forth" (see physic).
shtick: 1959, from Yiddish shtik "an act, gimmick," lit. "a piece, slice," from M.H.G. stücke "piece, play," from O.H.G. stucki (see stock (n.1)).
lame duck: mid-18c., "any disabled person or thing;" especially Stock Exchange slang for "defaulter."
"A lame duck is a man who cannot pay his differences, and is said to waddle off." [Thomas Love Peacock, "Gryll Grange," 1861]
Sometimes also in naval use for "an old, slow ship." Modern sense of "public official serving out term after an election" is recorded by 1878 in Amer.Eng., from an anecdote published in that year of President Lincoln, who is alleged to have said, "[A] senator or representative out of business is a sort of lame duck. He has to be provided for."
dividend: late 15c., from M.Fr. dividende "a number divided by another," from L. dividendum "thing to be divided," neut. gerundive of dividere (see divide). Sense of "portion of interest on a loan, stock, etc." is from 1680s. Related: Dividends.
airline: 1813, "beeline, straight line from place to place" (as through the air, rather than over land; in later 19c., esp. in ref. to railways that ran direct from city to city in the U.S., instead of meandering from town to town in search of stock subscriptions as early railways typically did), from air (1) + line. Meaning "public aircraft transportation company" is from 1914.
NASCAR: acronym for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, U.S. auto racing promotion group founded 1948 in Daytona Beach, Fla. NASCAR dad in U.S. political parlance, "small-town, often Southern white men who abandon traditional Democratic leanings to vote Republican at least once every four years" coined 2003 by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.
bonus: 1773, "Stock Exchange Latin" [Weekley], from L. bonus "good" (adj.); see bene-. The correct noun form would be bonum. In U.S. history the bonus army was tens of thousands of World War I veterans and followers who marched on Washington, D.C., in 1932 demanding early redemption of their service bonus certificates (which carried a maximum value of $625).
cattle: mid-13c., from Anglo-Fr. catel "property," from M.L. capitale "property, stock," neut. of L. capitalis "principal, chief," from caput "head" (see head). Original sense was of moveable property, especially livestock; not limited to "cows" until 1550s.
dandy (n.): c.1780, of uncertain origin, first appeared in a Scottish border ballad:
I've heard my granny crack
O' sixty twa years back
When there were sic a stock of Dandies O
etc. In that region, Dandy is dim. of Andrew. In vogue in London c.1813-19. His fem. counterpart was a dandizette (1821) with Fr.-type ending. The adjective dandy first recorded 1792; very popular c.1880-1900.
zany (n.): comic performer, 1588, from Fr. zani, from It. zani, zanni "a zany, clown," originally Zanni, Venetian dial. variant of Gianni, pet form of Giovanni "John." A stock character in old comedies, he aped the principal actors. The adj. is attested by 1869, from the noun.
clan: c.1425, from Gael. clann "family, stock, offspring," akin to O.Ir. cland "offspring, tribe," both from L. planta "offshoot" (see plant (n.)). Gaelic (Goidelic) Celtic had no initial p-, so it substituted k- or c- for L. p-.
generous: 1580s, from M.Fr. généreux (fem. généreuse), from L. generosus "of noble birth," from genus (gen. generis) "race, stock" (see genus). Originally "of noble birth," secondary senses of "unselfish" and "plentiful" were present in French and perhaps in Latin.
pantomime: 1615, "mime actor," from L. pantomimus "mime, dancer," from Gk. pantomimos "actor," lit. "imitator of all," from panto- (gen. of pan) "all" + mimos "imitator." Meaning "drama or play without words" first recorded 1735. The Eng. dramatic performances so called, usually at Christmas and with words and songs and stock characters, are attested by this name from 1739; said to have originated c.1717.
hoard (n.): O.E. hord "treasure, valuable stock or store," from P.Gmc. *khuzdan (cf. O.N. hodd, Ger. hort, Goth. huzd "treasure," lit. "hidden treasure"), from *kuzdho, probably from PIE base *(s)keu- "to cover, conceal" (see hide (n.1)). The verb is from O.E. hordian.
extirpation: 1520s, from L. extirpationem, from extirpare "root out," from ex- "out" + stirps (gen. stirpis) "a root, stock of a tree."
spiffy: 1853, of uncertain origin, probably related to spiff "well-dressed man." Spiffing "excellent" was very popular in 1870s slang. Uncertain relationship to spiff (n.) "percentage allowed by drapers to their young men when they effect sale of old fashioned or undesirable stock" (1859), or to spiflicate "confound, overcome completely," a cant word from 1749 preserved in Amer.Eng. slang spiflicated "drunk," first recorded 1906 in O.Henry.
store (v.): 1264, "to supply or stock," from O.Fr. estorer "erect, furnish, store," from L. instaurare "restore," from in- "in" + -staurare, from a noun cognate with Gk. stauros "pole, stake" (see steer (v.)). The meaning "to keep in store for future use" (1552) probably is a back-formation from store (n.). Storage is from 1612.
homogeneous: 1640s, from M.L. homogeneus, from Gk. homogenes "of the same kind," from homos "same" (see same) + genos "kind, gender, race, stock" (see genus). Earlier in this sense was homogeneal (c.1600). Homogenize "make similar" formed in Eng. 1886; its sense of "render milk uniform in consistency" is from 1904.
officinal: "kept in stock by a druggist," c.1720, from Fr. officinal, from M.L. officinalis, lit. "of or belonging in an officina," a storeroom (of a monastery) for medicines and necessaries, from L. officina "workshop," contraction of *opificina, from opifex (gen. opificis) "worker, maker, doer" (from opus "work") + -fex, -ficis "one who does," from facere "do, perform" (see factitious).
broil (2): "quarrel," c.1400, from Anglo-Fr. broiller "mix up, confuse," O.Fr. brooillier "to mix, mingle," figuratively "to have sexual intercourse" (13c., Mod.Fr. brouiller), perhaps from breu, bro "stock, broth, brew," from Frankish or another Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. brod "broth") akin to broth (see brew); also compare imbroglio.
sort (n.): c.1380, from O.Fr. sorte "class, kind," from L. sortem (nom. sors) "lot, fate, share, portion, rank, category," from PIE base *ser- "to line up" (cf. L. serere "to arrange, attach, join;" see series). The sense evolution in V.L. is from "what is allotted to one by fate," to "fortune, condition," to "rank, class, order." Out of sorts "not in usual good condition" is attested from 1621, with lit. sense of "out of stock."
comment (n.): c.1400, L. commentum in L.L. "comment, interpretation," lit. "invention," neut. pp. of comminisci "to contrive, devise," from com- intens. prefix + base of meminisse "to remember," related to mens (gen. mentis) "mind." Original L. meaning was "something invented;" taken by Isidore and other Christian theologians for "interpretation, annotation." The verb is from c.1450. No comment as a stock refusal to answer a journalist's question is first recorded 1950, from Truman's White House press secretary, Charles Ross.
margin: mid-14c., "space between a block of text and the edge of a page," from L. margo (gen. marginis) "edge," from PIE *mereg- "edge, boundary" (see mark (1)). General sense of "boundary space" is from late 14c. Meaning "comfort allowance, cushion" is from 1851; margin of safety first recorded 1888. Stock market sense of "sum deposited with a broker to cover risk of loss" is from 1848. Related: Margins.