albanian prefix "stër-"

From: alex_lycos
Message: 20918
Date: 2003-04-10

Which is the origin of the prefix "stër-" in Albanian?

I mean here the compund prefix in words like: stërgjyshe , stërnip, etc
where the prefix "stër-" play the role of the german "ur-" and in some
situations the english "great-" like in great-grand-mother.

Alex