Etymology

saying

say·ing
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Today it means: A proverb or maxim. Full definition →

English say ← Middle English seien ← Old English seċġan
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sekʷ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sokʷ-éye-ti
  3. Proto-Indo-European*sokʷ-h₁-yé-ti
  4. Proto-Germanic*sagjaną
  5. Proto-West Germanic*saggjan
  6. Old Englishseċġan
  7. Middle Englishseien
  8. Englishsay
  9. English todaysaying

From say + -ing.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.