Etymology

North Sea

Today it means: A marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean between Britain (in the west), Scandinavia (in the east) and Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France (in the south). Full definition →

Middle English North-see ← Old English norþsǣ
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The story

  1. Old English · derived fromnorþsǣ“northern sea, Bristol Channel, Baltic, North Sea”
  2. Middle English · derived fromNorth-see
  3. English todayNorth Sea

From Middle English North-see, from Old English norþsǣ (“northern sea, Bristol Channel, Baltic, North Sea”), equivalent to north + sea. Cognate with West Frisian Noardsee (“North Sea”), Dutch Noordzee, German Nordsee, Danish Nordsøen, Swedish Nordsjön, Icelandic Norðursjór.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.