Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/353

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OHG. and MidHG. sêr, n., ‘pain’; from the OTeut. adj. is derived Finn. sairas, ‘sick.’ The common Teut. saira- seems, like OIr. sáeth, sóeth, ‘hurt, disease,’ to point to a root sai, ‘to pain.’ The earlier meaning is preserved by Suab. and Bav. sêr, ‘wounded, painful,’ and versehren, ‘to wound’; comp. Du. zeer, ‘injured, injury, sickness, scab.’

seichen, vb., ‘to make water,’ from the equiv. MidHG. seichen, OHG. seihhen; allied to ModHG. Seiche, ‘urine,’ and the equiv. MidHG. seiche, f., seich, m., OHG. seih, m.; Goth. *saiqjan, ‘to make water,’ is wanting; with these sickern, ‘to ooze,’ and LG. sêken, ‘to make water’ (Teut. root saik, saiq), are connected. The Aryan root sī̆q, mentioned under seihen, appears in OSlov. as sĭcati, with the same meaning, ‘to make water’; comp. OSlov. sĭcĭ, m., ‘urine.’

seicht, adj., ‘low, shallow, flat,’ from MidHG. sîhte, adj., ‘low, shallow’; OHG. *sîhti not recorded; probably allied to sinken, hence lit. ‘where the water has sunk into the ground,’ or ‘that which has sunk, or is low’; scarcely akin to seihen, lit. ‘where it gently flows’?.

Seide, f., ‘silk,’ from the equiv. MidHG. sîde, OHG. sîda, f.; derived from MidLat. sêta, ‘silk,’ like OHG. chrîda, from Lat. crêta. The d of the HG. words must be explained by the soft mute of the Rom. languages, appearing in Span., Prov. and North Ital. seda and Ital. seta, ‘silk’ (Fr. soie), just as in Span. greda, ‘chalk,’ compared with Ital. creta (comp. Seidel). MidLat. sêta, crêta (ê closed; see Preis, Pein, Speise, and feiern), may have been borrowed about the 10th cent. From Lat. sêta (lit. ‘bristle’) OIr. síta is also derived. For the assumption that the Phœnician town of Sidon furnished both the material and the name Seide, or rather Lat. sêta, there is no historic proof. In E. another term is used, AS. seole, seoloc, E. silk, to which the equiv. OIc. silke, n., is allied. It is usually assumed that these latter terms come from the Lat., in which serîcus (Ir. síric) means ‘of silk’; they must, however, especially since their forms can scarcely be deduced from the Lat., be more fittingly connected, like OSlov. šelkŭ, m., ‘silk,’ with an Eastern term; comp. Mongol. sirgek, ‘silk.’ The Seres, from whom the Greeks obtained their term σηρικὸς (Lat. sêricus), adj., cannot, as an East Asiatic people, be regarded as the imme-

diate source of the North Europ. loan-words.

Seidel, n. and m., ‘pint,’ from the equiv. late MidHG. sîdel, sîdelîn, n.; from Lat. sîtula (Ital. secchia, ‘pail’), ‘bucket,’ whence also OIr. sithal; with regard to the lengthening of Lat. ĭ to MidHG. î in an open syllable, see Schule, and for d representing t, see Seide.

Seidelbast, m., ‘spurge-laurel, mezereon,’ derived under the influence of Seide (on account of the fine bast?) from the equiv. MidHG. zîdelbast (also zîtzelbast), m., called also zîlant; origin obscure. Perhaps zîdel-weide, ‘rearing of bees,’ is allied.

Seife, f., ‘soap,’ from the equiv. MidHG. seife, OHG. seifa, f. (OHG. also ‘resin’); comp. Du. zeep, AS. sâpe (hence OIc. sápa), E. soap; Goth. *saipjô is implied by OHG. seipfa (Suab. and Swiss Seipfe), and by the Finn. loan-word saippio. OHG. seifa, AS. sâp, ‘resin,’ might suggest the assumption that Seife belongs, like AS. sîpan, MidHG. sîfen, and Du. zijpelen, ‘to trickle,’ to the Teut. root sī̆p, to which Lat. sébum, ‘tallow,’ is usually referred, But Pliny says that ‘soap’ (sâpo) was an invention of the Gauls, “Gallorum hoc inventum rutilandis capillis; fit ex sebo et cinere ... apud Germanos majore in usu viris quam feminis.” The Lat. sâpo of Pliny, however, is, like its derivatives Fr. savon, Ital. sapona, none other than the Teut. *saipô; perhaps soap (the Romans were not acquainted with it) may be regarded as a Teut. invention. Yet it is remarkable that Pliny speaks of soap only as a “pomade for colouring the hair.” The term sâpo, ‘soap,’ was not frequently used in Lat. until the 4th cent. Another Teut. word for soap is represented by E. lather, AS. leáðor, OIc. lauðr.

Seihe, t., ‘straining, strainer, colander,’ from the equiv. MidHG. sîhe, OHG. sîha, f. Allied to seihen, ‘to strain, filter,’ from MidHG. sîhen, OHG. sîhan, ‘to strain, filter, trickle’; comp. Du. zijgen, ‘to filter through, decay, faint,’ AS. seón (from *sîhan), ‘to strain,’ and the equiv. OIc. sía. Identical with these are MidHG. sîgen, OHG. and AS. sîgan, ‘to fall down, trickle.’ Teut. root sī̆h, sī̆hw (with grammatical change sī̆g, sī̆w), from pre-Teut. sī̆q, ‘to trickle down’; comp. OSlov. sĭcati, ‘to make water,’ Sans. sic, ‘to pour out’ (Gr. ἰκμάς, ‘moisture’?), An equiv. Teut. root is also indicated by ModHG. seichen, sinken, and sickern.