Faith & RitualGreek → English
Stole
/stoʊl/noun
A long narrow band of cloth worn over the shoulders by clergy, or a woman's wrap of the same shape.
The Greek roots
στολή
stolḗ
garment, equipment
Literally: “what one is arrayed in”
Follow a root:στολή1 word
The story of the word
The verb behind it, στέλλω, means to fit out and send off, so a στολή is kit before it is finery, and the same verb gives "apostle", one sent out. Old English borrowed stole from Latin stola for a full robe; the narrow liturgical band is a later shrinking of the sense. The past tense of "steal" is an unrelated Germanic word that happens to look identical.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old English → English
Same family
apostleepistlesystolediastole
In a sentence
He kissed the green stole before laying it over his shoulders.