stipend: [15] Latin stīpendium denoted a ‘tax’ or ‘levy’. It was a compound noun formed from stips ‘payment, donation’ and pendere ‘weigh, pay’. It subsequently shifted in meaning to ‘wages, salary’, and particularly ‘soldier’s pay’, both of which passed into English via Old French stipende. => pendant, pendulum, spend
stipend (n.)
early 15c., "periodical payment; soldier's pay," from Latin stipendium "tax, impost, tribute," in military use "pay, salary," from stips "alms, small payment, contribution of money, gift" + pendere "weigh" (see pendant). According to Klein's sources, the first element is related to Latin stipes "log, stock, trunk of a tree" (see stipe). As a verb from late 15c.