An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Seihe

by Friedrich Kluge

Seihe, t., ‘straining, strainer, colander,’ from the equivalent Middle High German sîhe, Old High German sîha, feminine. Allied to seihen, ‘to strain, filter,’ from Middle High German sîhen, Old High German sîhan, ‘to strain, filter, trickle’; compare Dutch zijgen, ‘to filter through, decay, faint,’ Anglo-Saxon seón (from *sîhan), ‘to strain,’ and the equivalent Old Icelandic sía. Identical with these are Middle High German sîgen, Old High German and Anglo-Saxon sîgan, ‘to fall down, trickle.’ Teutonic root sī̆h, sī̆hw (with grammatical change sī̆g, sī̆w), from pre-Teutonic sī̆q, ‘to trickle down’; compare Old Slovenian sĭcati, ‘to make water,’ Sanscrit sic, ‘to pour out’ (Greek ἰκμάς, ‘moisture’?), An equivalent Teutonic root is also indicated by Modern High German seichen, sinken, and sickern.