The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*seyl-“still, windless, quiet, slow”
- Latin · borrowed fromsilēns“silent”
- English todaysilent
From Latin silēns (“silent”), present participle of sileō (“be silent”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyl- (“still, windless, quiet, slow”). Related to Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (anasilan, “to cease, grow still, be silent”), Old English sālnes (“silence”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.