Etymology

sill

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Today it means: A breast wall; window breast; horizontal brink which forms the base of a window. Full definition →

Middle English sille ← Old English syll ← Proto-Germanic *sulī
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sill · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*sel-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*sulī“bar, sill”
  3. Old English · inherited fromsyll
  4. Middle English · inherited fromsille
  5. English todaysill

From Middle English sille, selle, sülle, from Old English syll, syl (“sill, threshold, foundation, base, basis”), from Proto-Germanic *sulī (“bar, sill”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). Cognate with Scots sil, sill (“balk, beam, floor, sill”), Dutch zulle (“sill”), Low German Sull, Sülle (“threshold, ramp, sill”), German Süll, Sülle (“threshold, sill”), Danish syld (“base of a framework building”), Swedish syll (“joist, cross-tie”), Norwegian syll, Icelandic syll, sylla (“sill”). Related also to German Schwelle ( > Danish svelle), Old Norse svill, Latin silva (“wood, forest”), Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē).

sill · noun2

Compare sile.

sill · noun3

Compare thill.

sill · adjective4

Short for silly.

Sill · proper noun5

English surname, variant of Silvester (from Sylvester) and Silvano.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*sel- all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.