See for example http://www.linguistlist.org/~ask-ling/archive-most-recent/msg05688.html http://www.linguistlist.org/~ask-ling/archive-most-recent/msg05689.html ... apparently from Old Persian, from IE *sta-, cognate with English "stand", "state", "stead", German "Stadt", Latin "statio", etc. ... apparently with the idea of "place". -- Doug Wilson