- stanza (n.)
- "group of rhymed verse lines," 1580s, from Italian stanza "verse of a poem," originally "standing, stopping place," from Vulgar Latin *stantia "a stanza of verse," so called from the stop at the end of it, from Latin stantem (nominative stans), present participle of stare "to stand," from PIE root *stā- "to stand, set down, make or be firm" (see stet). Related: Stanzaic.