< Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic
Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/saiwalō
Proto-Germanic
Etymology
Uncertain with several theories:
- from *saiwiz (“sea, ocean”) + *-alō, in connection to the pagan Germanic belief in sacred lakes inhabited by the dead and the unborn, compare the Sami borrowing from Germanic, *Sāvjë, a realm of the dead believed to be under special double-bottomed lakes,[1]
- from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂i-wl̥ ~ *sh₂i-wéns, possibly cognate with Proto-Balto-Slavic *séiˀlāˀ (“strength, force; soul”), Latin saevus (“fierce”), Proto-Celtic *saitlom (“life, age”), Latin saeculum (“generation, lifetime”), perhaps either from *seh₂y- (“to bind”) or homonym *seh₂y- (“rage, fury”),[2] making it possibly again related to *saiwiz (“sea, ocean”),
- or from *s(w)ai (“self”), from Proto-Indo-European *swoy-, + *walō (“choice, will”), from Proto-Indo-European *wolh₁-eh₂, from *welh₁-.[3]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsɑi̯.wɑ.lɔː/
Noun
*saiwalō f[4][5]
- soul, life force
Inflection
ō-stemDeclension of *saiwalō (ō-stem) | |||
---|---|---|---|
singular | plural | ||
nominative | *saiwalō | *saiwalôz | |
vocative | *saiwalō | *saiwalôz | |
accusative | *saiwalǭ | *saiwalōz | |
genitive | *saiwalōz | *saiwalǫ̂ | |
dative | *saiwalōi | *saiwalōmaz | |
instrumental | *saiwalō | *saiwalōmiz |
Derived terms
- *saiwalōną
Descendants
- Proto-West Germanic: *saiwalu
- Old English: sāwol, sāwel, sāwal, sāul, sōwhul
- Middle English: soule, saul, saule, souel, soul, soull, soulle, sowel, sowele, sowle, sowll, sowyl; sauele, sawlæ, sawle, sæule; sauel, saull, saulle, sawel, sawele, sawell, sawil, sawle; zaule
- English: soul (see there for further descendants)
- Scots: saul
- → Old Norse: sála, sál
- Icelandic: sál
- Faroese: sál
- Norwegian Nynorsk: sål
- Old Gutnish: selu
- Middle English: soule, saul, saule, souel, soul, soull, soulle, sowel, sowele, sowle, sowll, sowyl; sauele, sawlæ, sawle, sæule; sauel, saull, saulle, sawel, sawele, sawell, sawil, sawle; zaule
- Old Frisian: sēla
- North Frisian: siel, sial
- Saterland Frisian: Seele
- West Frisian: siel
- Old Saxon: sēola
- Middle Low German: sêle
- Low German:
- German Low German: Seel
- Westphalian:
- Sauerländisch: Siäle, Säile, Saile, Sǟle
- Westmünsterländisch: Seele, Sääle
- Plautdietsch: Seel
- Low German:
- → Old Norse:
- Norwegian: sjel
- Old Swedish: siæl, sial
- Swedish: själ
- Danish: sjæl
- Middle Low German: sêle
- Old Dutch: sēla
- Middle Dutch: siele
- Dutch: ziel
- Afrikaans: siel
- Limburgish: zeel
- Dutch: ziel
- Middle Dutch: siele
- Old High German: sēla
- Middle High German: sēle
- Alemannic German: Seel
- Central Franconian: Siel
- German: Seele
- Luxembourgish: Séil
- Vilamovian: zejł
- Middle High German: sēle
- Old English: sāwol, sāwel, sāwal, sāul, sōwhul
- Gothic: 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌰 (saiwala)
References
- Weisweiler, Josef (1940), “Seele und See”, in Indogermanische Forschungen (in German), volume 41, DOI:, pages 25–55
- Walde, Alois (1923) Indogermanische Forschungen (in German), volume 12, page 382
- Mezger, Fritz (1968), “Gotisch saiwala ‘Seele’”, in Kuhns Zeitschrift (in German), volume 82, JSTOR 40849402, page 382
- Orel, Vladimir (2003), “*saiwalō”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 314
- Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*saiwalō-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 423