sake

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*seh₂g-“to investigate”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*sakō“affair, thing, charge, accusation, matter”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*saku
4. Old English · inherited fromsacu“cause, lawsuit, legal action, complaint, issue, dispute”
5. Middle English · inherited fromsake“sake, cause”
6. English todaysake

From Middle English sake (“sake, cause”), from Old English sacu (“cause, lawsuit, legal action, complaint, issue, dispute”), from Proto-West Germanic *saku, from Proto-Germanic *sakō (“affair, thing, charge, accusation, matter”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to investigate”). Akin to West Frisian saak (“cause; business”), Low German Saak, Dutch zaak (“matter; cause; business”), German Sache (“thing; matter; cause; legal cause”), Danish sag, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sak, Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌾𐍉 (sakjō, “dispute, argument”), Old English sōcn (“inquiry, prosecution”), Old English sēcan (“to seek”). More at soke, soken, seek.

Words from the same roots