English 'stock' comes from Old English 'stocc' (tree trunk), from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (log, stick) — the financial sense arose because the English Exchequer used tally sticks split in two to record debts, and the creditor's half was called the 'stock,' making the stock market literally a market in sticks.
The goods or merchandise kept on the premises of a business; a share in the ownership of a company; the capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares.
From Old English 'stocc' (trunk of a tree, post, stake, log), from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (a stick, a trunk, a block), from PIE *stew- (to push, to stick, to knock, to beat). The semantic chain runs: tree trunk → a fixed post → something fixed or stored → a supply of goods → a sum of money invested → shares in a company. The financial 'stock' originated from the practice of recording loans on tally sticks (wooden sticks split between creditor
The 'stock' in 'stock market' traces back to the Exchequer's tally sticks — wooden sticks split in half to record debts to the English Crown. The creditor kept one half (the 'stock') and the debtor kept the other (the 'foil'). Trading these wooden 'stocks' for profit or loss was the origin of the stock market. Financial instruments literally began as sticks.