Stalk
Middle English: probably a diminutive of dialect stale ‘rung of a ladder, long handle’.
wiktionary
From Middle English stalke, stelke, stalk, perhaps from Old English *stealc, *stielc, *stealuc, from Proto-West Germanic *staluk, *stalik, from Proto-Germanic *stalukaz, *stalikaz, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *stalô, *staluz(“support, stem, stalk”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel-(“to place, stand; be stiff; stud, post, trunk, stake, stem, stalk”). Cognate with Old High German *stelh in wazzarstelh(“wagtail”), Danish stilk(“stalk, stem”), Swedish stjälk(“stalk, stem”), Icelandic stilkur(“stalk, stem”).
Related also to Middle English stale(“ladder upright, stalk”), Old English stalu(“wooden upright”), Middle Low German stal, stale(“chair leg”), Old English stela(“stalk”), Dutch steel(“stalk”), German Stiel(“stalk”), Albanian shtalkë(“crossbeam, board used as a door hinge”), Welsh telm(“frond”), Ancient Greek στέλος(stélos, “beam”), Old Armenian ստեղն(stełn, “trunk, stalk”).
From Middle English stalken, from Old English *stealcian (as in bestealcian(“to move stealthily”), stealcung(“stalking”)), from Proto-Germanic *stalkōną(“to stalk, move stealthily”) (compare Dutch stelkeren, stolkeren(“to tip-toe, tread carefully”), Danish stalke(“to high step, stalk”), Norwegian dialectal stalka(“to trudge”)), from *stalkaz, *stelkaz (compare Old English stealc(“steep”), Old Norse stelkr, stjalkr(“knot (bird), red sandpiper”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)telg, *(s)tolg- (compare Middle Irish tolg(“strength”), Lithuanian stalgùs(“stiff, defiant, proud”)). [1]
Alternate etymology connects Proto-Germanic *stalkōną to a frequentative form of *stelaną(“to steal”).
Attested 1530 in the sense "to walk haughtily", perhaps from Old English stealc(“steep”), from Proto-Germanic *stelkaz, *stalkaz(“high, lofty, steep, stiff”); see above.
etymonline
stalk (n.)
"stem of a plant," early 14c., probably a diminutive (with -k suffix) of stale "one of the uprights of a ladder, handle, stalk," from Old English stalu "wooden part" (of a tool or instrument), from Proto-Germanic *stalla- (source also of Old English steala "stalk, support," steall "place"), from PIE *stol-no-, suffixed form of *stol-, variant of root *stel- "to put, stand, put in order," with derivatives referring to a standing object or place. Of similar structures in animals from 1826.
stalk (v.1)
"pursue stealthily," Old English -stealcian, as in bestealcian "to steal along, walk warily," from Proto-Germanic *stalkon, frequentative of PIE *stel-, possibly a variant of *ster- (3) "to rob, steal" (see steal (v.)). Compare hark/hear, talk/tell). In another view the Old English word might be by influenced of stalk (n.). Meaning "harass obsessively" first recorded 1991. Related: Stalked; stalking.
A stalking-horse in literal use was a horse draped in trappings and trained to allow a fowler to conceal himself behind it to get within range of the game; figurative sense of "person who participates in a proceeding to disguise its real purpose" is recorded from 1610s.
stalk (v.2)
"walk haughtily" (nearly the opposite meaning of stalk (v.1)), 1520s, perhaps from stalk (n.) with a notion of "long, awkward strides," or from Old English stealcung "a stalking, act of going stealthily," related to stealc "steep, lofty."
