self

self · pronoun, noun, verb, adjective¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*swé?
2. Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
3. Proto-Germanic*selbaz
4. Old Englishself
5. Middle Englishself
6. English todayself

From Middle English salve, self, silf, from Old English self, seolf, sylf, from Proto-Germanic *selbaz, from Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ- (“one's own”). Cognates Cognates with Saterland Frisian sälven, säärm, sääuwen (“oneself”), West Frisian sels (“oneself”), Bavarian söbe (“identical, same”), söber (“self”), Dutch zelf (“myself, oneself”), German selber (“self”), selbst (“by oneself”), Luxembourgish selwer (“self”), Yiddish זעלב (zelb, “same”), Danish selv (“self”), Elfdalian siuov (“self”), Faroese sjálvur (“self”), Icelandic sjálfur (“self”), Norwegian Bokmål selv, Norwegian Nynorsk sjølv, Swedish själv (“self”), Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌱𐌰 (silba, “self”).

Self · proper noun²

* From self. A surname taken up by freed slaves, who have become of themselves, they being self-owned.

Words from the same roots