## Etymology
Middle English 'stale', probably from Anglo-Norman/Old French 'estaler', to halt or come to a stand, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to the notion of standing still (as wine left standing).

## AI Etymology
Stale continues Middle English 'stale', probably from Anglo-Norman/Old French 'estaler', to halt or come to a stand, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to the notion of standing still (as wine left standing). The historical chain includes Old French estaler. The quoted older senses, "stale" and "estaler", supply the semantic anchors for stale. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word stale carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "no longer fresh; lacking originality or interest". English derivatives include staleness and stalely; related English forms include stalemate. The result is a adj and verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

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