Stab

See also: stab, STAB, stáb, and štab

German

Etymology

From Middle High German stap, stab, from Old High German stab, from Proto-West Germanic *stab.

Cognate with English staff, Dutch staf, Swedish stav, Old Norse stafr. The meaning co-workers is secondary: in the German word Generalstab (“General Staff”) the meaning changed from the staff as a symbol of authority to the group of military officers and later to any group of co-workers.[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ʃtaːp/
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -aːp
  • Homophone: starb (some speakers)

Noun

Stab m (strong, genitive Stabes or Stabs, plural Stäbe, diminutive Stäbchen n)

  1. rod, staff, baton
  2. staff (employees)
  3. (heraldry) palet

Declension
Declension of Stab [masculine, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der Stab die Stäbe
genitive eines des Stabes, Stabs der Stäbe
dative einem dem Stab, Stabe1 den Stäben
accusative einen den Stab die Stäbe

1Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms
  • stabartig, stabförmig

Descendants
  • Polish: sztab m
  • Russian: штаб m (štab)

References
  1. Friedrich Kluge (1989) “Stab”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN

Further reading
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