stand

This one has the nice, old bodily certainty of a word that began with feet planted in the dirt. The Germanic languages all keep the same sturdy posture—Old English standan, Old Norse standa, Gothic standan—and behind them sits the even older PIE root *sta-, the same family that gives us stable, status, and station. That’s why stand can mean not just “be upright,” but also “remain valid,” “cost” something, or even “take a position against” danger; language loves turning a physical pose into a mental one. In 14th-century English, to stand for a price meant the same basic idea as Latin constare, literally “to stand at,” which is why a loaf of bread can still feel like it’s literally standing guard over your wallet. And if you want a fun cousin, grandstand is just grand + stand, while oust comes from Latin obstare, “to stand in the way”—so one branch of this family stands firm, and another stands in your path like a bureaucrat with a clipboard.