Stang is a word with multiple established meanings across English language, Germanic languages, surname studies, and contemporary Neopagan religious practice.
As an English noun (archaic/dialectal): A stang refers to a long bar, pole, rod, shaft, or stake. Historically, it was also used as a land measure equivalent to a perch, rod, or pole (16.5 feet). This usage appears in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726): "These fields were intermingled with woods of half a stang." The term derives from Old English stæng (pole) and Old Norse stǫng (pole, bar, rod). A related folk custom, "riding the stang," involved parading an offender astride a pole as a form of public humiliation, historically recorded in Scotland and northern England.
As an English verb (archaic/dialectal): Stang is an archaic or dialectal past tense of the verb sting (e.g., "The bee stang him"). In Scottish dialect, it can also function as a regular verb meaning to throb with pain or to sting.
As a surname: Stang is a German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname, from Middle High German stang / German Stange meaning "pole" or "shaft," likely originating as a nickname for a tall, thin person, a metonymic occupational name for a maker of wooden shafts, or a metonymic occupational name for a soldier. It is also a Norwegian habitational name from farms named Stang, from Old Norse stǫng referring to a long, narrow landscape formation. Notable individuals with this surname include Arnold Stang (American actor, 1918–2009), Frederik Stang (Norwegian Prime Minister, 1808–1884), and Dorothy Stang (American-born Brazilian missionary and activist, 1931–2005).
In Wicca and Neopagan witchcraft: A stang is a forked staff, typically shoulder-height, used as a ritual tool. It is commonly associated with the Horned God (particularly Cernunnos) and the masculine force of nature, though some traditions (such as Raven Grimassi's Strega) use it to represent the Goddess. The word in this context derives from the same Anglo-Saxon root (staeng / steng). The stang is often described as symbolizing the World Tree (axis mundi), with the fork representing the Goddess and the shaft representing the God, or as a representation of the Great Rite. Its introduction into modern witchcraft practice is frequently attributed to Robert Cochrane (1931–1966), founder of the Clan of Tubal Cain.
As slang (US): Stang is a colloquial shortening of Mustang, referring to the Ford Mustang automobile.
In other Germanic languages: In Danish, stang (common gender) means a bar, rod, or pole. In Dutch, stang (masculine) means a bar (of metal or wood). In Norwegian Bokmål, stang (feminine or masculine) means a pole or rod. In Indonesian, stang is an alternative form of setang (bar, rod, handlebar). In the Khasi language (Northeast India), stang is an adjective meaning "thin" or "slender."
