![\"A](\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/blog\/stag.jpg\")
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I came across the expression “to go stag<\/strong>” the other day in an article and was puzzled by it. I couldn’t quite work out what it meant from the context, so looked it up.<\/p>\n According to Merriam-Webster<\/a> it is an expression used in the USA that means: “to go to a party or other social event by oneself.”<\/p>\n The American Heritage Dictionary<\/a> defines stag as: “A person who attends a social gathering unaccompanied by a partner, especially a man who is unaccompanied by a woman”, and also as: “a social gathering for men only.”<\/p>\n Merriam-Webster has a similar definition for stag: “social gathering of men only one who attends a dance or party without a companion.”<\/p>\n In the UK and Ireland a stag can be “a social event for males held in honor of a groom on the eve of his wedding, attended by male friends of the groom” [source<\/a>]. Stag can also refer to the groom. A stag is also known as a stag do, stag party, stag weekend, bachelor party (USA & Canada), buck’s party (Australia). Are there other names for such an event?<\/p>\n Such events date back at least to the 5th century B.C. The ancient Spartans apparently celebrated a groom’s last night as a single man by having a dinner and making toasts to him [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n Stag<\/strong> also means an adult male deer. Itcomes from the Middle English steg, stagge<\/em> (stag), from the Old English stagga, stacga<\/em> (stag) and the Old Norse steggi, steggr<\/em> (a male animal), from the Proto-Germanic *staggij\u00f4, *staggijaz<\/em> (male, male deer, porcupine), probably from the Proto-Indo-European *steg\u02b0-, *steng\u02b0-<\/em> (to sting; rod, blade; sharp, stiff) [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n