distance: [13] Etymologically, things that are distant stand far apart from each other. The word comes via Old French from Latin distantia, an abstract noun formed from distāns, the present participle of distāre ‘be remote’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix dis- ‘apart’ and stāre ‘stand’ (source of English state, station, statue, etc and related to English stand). => stand, state, station, statue
