saw

saw · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*sek-
2. Proto-Indo-European*sok-éh₂
3. Proto-Germanic*sagō
4. Proto-West Germanic*sagu
5. Old Englishsaga
6. Middle Englishsawe
7. English todaysaw

The noun from Middle English sawe, sawgh, from Old English saga, sagu (“saw”), from Proto-West Germanic *sagu, from Proto-Germanic *sagô, *sagō (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Cognate with West Frisian seage (“saw”), Dutch zaag (“saw”), German Säge (“saw”), Danish sav (“saw”), Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk sag (“saw”), Swedish såg (“saw”), Icelandic sög (“saw”), and through Indo-European, with Latin secō (“cut”) and Italian sega (“saw”). The verb from Middle English sawen, from the noun above.

saw · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European*sekʷ-
2. Proto-Germanic*sagǭ
3. Proto-West Germanic*sagā
4. Old Englishsaga
5. Middle Englishsawe
6. English todaysaw

From Middle English sawe, from Old English sagu, saga (“story, tale, saying, statement, report, narrative, tradition”), from Proto-West Germanic *sagā, from Proto-Germanic *sagō, *sagǭ (“saying, story”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷe-, *skʷē-, from *sekʷ- (“to say”). Cognate with Dutch sage (“saga”), German Sage (“legend, saga, tale, fable”), Danish sagn (“legend”), Norwegian soga (“story”), Icelandic saga (“story, tale, history”). More at saga, say. Doublet of saga.

SAW · interjection³

From Arabic

SAW · noun, proper noun⁴

Abbreviation.

Saw · proper noun⁵

1. Burmese · borrowed fromစော
2. Hindi · borrowed fromसाव
3. English todaySaw

Various origins: * English metonymic occupational surname for a sawyer, from saw. Compare Sawyer. * Borrowed from Hindi साव (sāv); this surname is predominantly found in Jharkhand state. * Borrowed from Burmese စော (cau:), a nickname meaning "honorable".

Words from the same roots