| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | s(w)e- |
| DEFINITION: | Pronoun of the third person and reflexive (referring back to the subject of the sentence); further appearing in various forms referring to the social group as an entity, “(we our-)selves.”
Derivatives include self, gossip, suicide, secret, sober, sullen, ethic, and idiot.
1. Suffixed extended form *sel-bho-. self, from Old English self, sylf, self, same, from Germanic *selbaz, self. 2. Suffixed form *s(w)e-bh(o)-. sib; gossip, from Old English sibb, relative, from Germanic *sibja-, “one's own,” blood relation, relative. 3. Suffixed form *se-ge. bustle1, from Old Norse -sk, reflexive suffix (as in b ask, to make oneself ready), from sik, oneself (reflexive pronoun), from Germanic *sik, self. 4. Suffixed form *swoi-no-. swain; boatswain, from Old Norse sveinn, herdsman, boy, from Germanic *swainaz, “one's own (man),” attendant, servant. 5. Suffixed form *s(u)w-o-, one's own. a. suicide, from Latin su (genitive), of oneself; b. swami, from Sanskrit sv m, “one's own master,” owner, prince, from sva- (< *swo-), one's own. 6. Extended form *sed. secede, secern, seclude, secret, secure, sedition, seduction, sedulous, segregate, select, separate, sever, sure, from Latin s d, s, s-, without, apart (< “on one's own”); c. sober, from Latin compound s brius, not drunk (brius, drunk; see egwh-). 7. Possibly suffixed lengthened o-grade form *s-lo. sole2, solitary, solitude, solo, sullen; desolate, soliloquy, solipsism, from Latin slus, by oneself alone. 8. Extended root *sw dh-, “that which is one's own,” peculiarity, custom. a. sodality, from Latin sodlis, companion (< “one's own,” “relative”); b. suffixed form *swdh-sko-. consuetude, custom, desuetude, mansuetude, mastiff, from Latin suscere, to accustom, get accustomed; c. ethic, ethos; cacoethes, from Greek thos, custom, disposition, trait; d. suffixed form *swedh-no-. ethnic, ethno-, from Greek ethnos, band of people living together, nation, people (< “people of one's own kind”). 9. Suffixed extended form *swet-aro-. hetaera, from Greek hetairos, comrade, companion, earlier hetaros. 10. Suffixed extended form *swed-yo-. idio-, idiom, idiot; idiopathy, idiosyncrasy, from Greek idios, personal, private (“particular to oneself”). 11. Suffixed form *swei-no-. Sinn Fein, from Old Irish féin, self. 12. Suffixed (ablatival) form *swe-tos, from oneself. khedive, from Old Iranian khvadta-, lord, by haplology from compound form *khvat-dta-, created from oneself (dta-, created; see dh-). 13. Perhaps suffixed form *swe-tono-. Khotanese, from Khotanese Hvatana-, perhaps “those holding their own (power), masters.” (Pokorny se- 882.) |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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