Origin and history of stamina

1670s, "rudiments or original elements of something," from Latin stamina "threads," plural of stamen (genitive staminis) "thread, warp" (see stamen).

The sense of "power to resist or recover, strength, endurance" is attested by 1726 (originally plural), from the earlier meaning "congenital vital capacities of a person or animal," on which the duration of life was supposed to depend, which is based on the word's original English notion of "that which is the principal support of any thing." It is also perhaps partly from a figurative use of Latin stamen "the warp (of cloth)" on the notion of the warp as the "foundation" of a fabric, and also in part from use of the Latin word in reference to the threads spun by the Fates (such as queri nimio de stamine "too long a thread of life"), a sense of stamen attested in English by 1701.

Related: Staminal. Middle English stamine (c. 1200) was linsey-woolsey or other woolen cloth, from Old French estamine (Modern French étamine) from Latin stamineus "consisting of threads," from stamen.