statute

Statute comes from Middle English statut, borrowed from Old French statut, from Late Latin statutum, meaning "a statute." That in turn is the neuter form of statutus, the past participle of Latin statuō, "to set up, establish."

The word has stayed remarkably close to its roots: from the start it named something formally set up or established, and that's still exactly what a statute is — a law fixed in place.

It traces back to the Latin verb statuō, "to set up, establish," though the facts here don't name any other English words sharing that root.