An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Saite

by Friedrich Kluge

Saite, feminine, ‘string’ (of a musical instrument), from Middle High German seite, masculine and feminine, Old High German seita, feminine, seito, masculine, ‘string, cord, fetter’; compare Old High German seid, neuter, ‘cord, noose,’ Anglo-Saxon sâda, masculine, ‘cord, noose,’ derived by means of the Aryan suffix t from the Teutonic and Aryan root sai, by gradation sī̆, ‘to bind,’ which appears in Seil; compare further Old Icelandic seimr, masculine, ‘string’ (Gothic *sai-ma-), and síma, neuter, ‘string,’ Anglo-Saxon sîma, Old Saxon sī̆mo, masculine, ‘cord’; also Greek ὶ-μάς, ‘strap,’ and the Sanscrit root si, ‘to bind, fetter.’ The derivatives most closely allied to the Teutonic word are Old Slovenian sě-tĭ, feminine, ‘cord,’ and Lithuanian saítas, masculine, ‘cord.’ With regard to the Pre-Teutonic root sī̆, see further under Seil.