An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/sehen

by Friedrich Kluge

sehen, vb., ‘to see, look,’ from the equiv. MidHG. sëhen, OHG. sëhan; a common Teut. vb., and in this sense peculiar to this group. Comp. Goth. saihwan, OIc. sjá, AS. seón (from *seohan), E. to see, Du. zien, OSlov. sëhan, ‘to see.’ The common Teut. root sehw (with grammatical change segw, sew), from the pre-Teut. seq, closely agrees in sound with the Aryan root seq, ‘to follow, purse, accompany’; comp. Sans. sac, ‘to escort, promote,’ Gr. ἕπεσθαι, ‘to follow,’ Lat. sequi, Lith. sekti, ‘to follow’; the assumption that these words are primitively allied presents no difficulty (hence sehen is perhaps lit. ‘to follow with the eyes’). The supposition that the term is connected with Lat. secare, ‘to cut’ (Aryan root sek, ‘to penetrate’?), is untenable.