Still - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

STILL. (I) (0. Eng. stille, a word appearing in many Teutonic languages, all derived from the root, meaning to set in position or rest, seen in "stall," Ger. stellen, &c.), motionless, noiseless, or when used of wines or mineral waters, having little or no effervescence. As an adverb, "still" has preserved the original sense of "that which preserves its position," and thus means continually, permanently, now as before. (2) From the shortened form of "distil," Lat. distillare, to drip, trickle down, stilla, a drop, dim. of stiria. The older word for a "still" in English was stillatory, Medieval Latin stillatorium, an apparatus for heating substances and condensing the vapours (see Distillation and Spirits).