st

Almost every word in this family can be traced back to a single human image: a person standing still on their feet. The Latin verb stāre meant 'to stand,' and from it Latin built a sprawling family by attaching prefixes that say how or where you are standing.

The most direct branch keeps the bare idea of standing or being upright. con- (together) + stāre gives constant — something that keeps standing the same way. circum- (around) + stāre gives circumstance — the conditions 'standing around' an event. in- (on) + stāre gives instant and instance — what is 'standing on' you right now, this very case.

Latin also made a second verb, sistere, meaning 'to make something stand, to take a stand.' This is the -sist branch, and the prefix tells you the direction of the stand: re- (against) + sistere → resist (stand against); con- (together) + sistere → consist (stand together = be made of); as- (toward) + sistere → assist (stand by someone to help); per- (through) + sistere → persist (keep standing through); and the surprising exist = ex- (out) + sistere = 'to stand out into being' — to be is literally to stand out from nothing.

A third verb, statuere ('to set up, establish'), powers the -stitut- words: con- + statuere → constitute (set up together), in- → institute (set up), sub- → substitute (set one up under another). And the noun forms status / statiō ('a standing, a position') gave English state, status, static, station, statue, statute, stable, statistics — all about a fixed standing or position.

Finally there is a worn-down, everyday Latin branch that came through Old French: stay, stage, store, rest, arrest, restore, restaurant (a place that restores you), plus substance ('what stands under' a thing — its essence) and distance ('standing apart').

The root reaches far beyond Latin. The Germanic verbs stand and understand are cousins, and so is Greek histēmi ('to stand'), which gave us system (things set up together), static, and even ecstasy ('standing outside oneself'). All of them descend from the same prehistoric Indo-European root steh₂-, 'to stand.' Once you see the picture of standing, the whole enormous family lines up.