Some words propagate like mushrooms: no roots but a sizable crowd of upstarts calling themselves relatives. Gr-words are the pet subject of all works on sound imitation and sound symbolism.
The Oxford Etymologist answers readers' questions on the origin of the word "race", variants of "in one's stockinged feet", the folkloric creature Lady Hoonderlarly, and "bonfire."
One does not need to be an etymologist to suggest that stocking consists of "stock-" and "-ing". The trouble is that though "-ing" occurs in some nouns, it looks odd in stocking. Few English words have more seemingly incompatible senses than stock.