state

1175–1225; Middle English stat (noun), partly aphetic variant of estat estate, partly < Latin status condition (see status); in defs 7–11 < Latin status (rērum) state (of things) or status (reī pūblicae) state (of the republic)

1. State, condition, situation, status are terms for existing circumstances or surroundings. State is the general word, often with no concrete implications or material relationships: the present state of affairs. Condition carries an implication of a relationship to causes and circumstances: The conditions made flying impossible. Situation suggests an arrangement of circumstances, related to one another and to the character of a person: He was master of the situation. Status carries official or legal implications; it suggests a complete picture of interrelated circumstances as having to do with rank, position, standing, a stage reached in progress, etc.: the status of negotiations. 19. See maintain.

The history of the English noun state is complicated. It derives from both Old French and Latin. The Old French noun is estat, estate “general state or condition (material, bodily, moral, mental),” also the source of the English word estate “landed property.” Estat is a normal French development from Latin status “a standing, stance, physical state or circumstances, (public) order.” Latin status derives from the verb stāre “to stand,” from the very widespread Proto-Indo-European root stā- (and its many extensions) “to stand,” source of Greek histánai (from prehistoric sistánai with reduplication), Germanic (Old English) standan (English stand ), and Slavic (Polish) stać.
The e in estat is called a prothetic e ( prothetikós means “prefixed” in Greek). The prothetic e appears in the Romance languages of France (French, Provençal), and the Iberian Peninsula (Castilian, Portuguese, Catalan), and in Logudorese (the most conservative dialect of the Sardinian language). For example, Latin schola “school” appears as école in French (from earlier escole ), escòla in Provençal, escuela in Castilian, escola in Portuguese and Catalan, and iscola in Logudorese. The prothetic e was never common in Italy except to avoid ungainly consonant clusters; thus Italian la scuola “the school” becomes per iscuola “for school.” Prothesis persists in modern Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan: “station” is estación, estação, and estació, respectively, but it is no longer productive in French (“station” is station ) or Italian ( stazione ). Prothesis has never been common in Romanian (“school” is şcoală ).