Meaning

noun (usually plural) a necessary commodity for which demand is constant

noun a natural fiber (raw cotton, wool, hemp, flax) that can be twisted to form yarn

noun material suitable for manufacture or use or finishing

originFrom Middle English stapel (“staple, pillar, post”), from Old English stapol (“post, pillar”), from Proto-West Germanic *stapul, from Proto-Germanic *stapulaz, from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“post, stem”). See also Old English steppan (“to step”) and Old French estaple (“post”). Consider also stapes (“stirrup”), from Latin. Doublet of étape and etymology 1.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0