1814, from French, "a café in which smoking is allowed" (17c.), of unknown origin; some suggest a connection to French estamine, a type of open woolen fabric used for making sieves, etc., from Latin stamineus "made of thread." Or [Watkins] from Walloon stamen "post to which a cow is tied at a feeding trough," from Proto-Germanic *stamniz, from suffixed form of PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm." For the unetymological e-, see e-.
