Origin and history of stipend

[fundamental unit of weight] Old English pund "pound" (in weight or money), also "pint," from Proto-Germanic *punda- "pound" as a measure of weight (source of Gothic pund, Old High German phunt, German Pfund, Middle Dutch pont, Old Frisian and Old Norse pund), an early borrowing from Latin pondo "pound," originally in libra pondo "a pound by weight," from pondo (adv.) "by weight," ablative of pondus "weight," from stem of pendere "to hang, cause to hang; weigh" (from PIE root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin"). Perhaps the notion is the weight of a thing measured by how much it stretches a cord.

Meaning "unit of money" was in Old English, originally "a (Tower) pound of silver."

In the Middle Ages it was reckoned variously: the Tower pound (12 ounces), the merchant's pound (15), the avoirdupois (16), the Troy (12); the 16-ounce pound was established before late 14c. Pound cake (1747) is so called because it has a pound, more or less, of each ingredient. Pound of flesh is from "Merchant of Venice" IV.i. The abbreviations lb., £ are from libra "pound," and reflect the medieval custom of keeping accounts in Latin (see Libra).

A peny yn seson spent wille safe a pounde. [Paston Letters, 1457]

Middle English stif, from Old English stif "rigid, inflexible, not easily bent," in physical senses often suggesting rigor mortis, from Proto-Germanic *stifaz "inflexible" (source also of Dutch stijf, Old Frisian stef, Old High German stif, German steif "stiff;" Old Norse stifla "choke").

The Germanic word is said to be from a PIE *stipos-, from the root *steip- "press together, pack, cram" (source also of Sanskrit styayate "coagulates," stima "slow;" Greek stia, stion "small stone," steibo "press together;" Latin stipare "pack down, compress," perhaps also stipes "post, tree trunk;" Lithuanian stipti "to stiffen, grow rigid," stiprus "strong;" Old Church Slavonic stena "wall"). However Boutkan suggests the possibility that the Germanic words are a metaphoric use from words for staff (n.).

By extension, "strong, violent; difficult to master or overcome:" In reference to battles and competitions, "fierce, stubborn, contested," mid-13c.; of winds or currents c. 1300; of liquor from 1813. In Middle English also "powerful, staunch, unmoving, resolute," and paired alliteratively with strong.

Of substances, "not fluid, thick and tenacious," early 15c. As "not natural or easy in movement," c. 1300. As "rigidly ceremonious, not easy or gracious in manner," c. 1600. To keep a stiff upper lip is attested from 1811. Related: Stiffly.