Where does “stolen” come from?

stolen (Middle English) comes from Old English stolen, from Proto-Germanic stulanaz, from Proto-Germanic stelaną, from Proto-Indo-European tsel- — to sneak.

Ancestry of “stolen”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishstolen—
2Proto-Germanicstulanaz—
3Proto-Germanicstelanąto steal; to sneak
4Proto-Indo-Europeantsel-to sneak

Words derived from “stolen”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European tsel- →Every word from Proto-Germanic stelaną →Every word from Proto-Germanic stulanaz →