seel

See also: Seel

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /siːl/
Rhymes: -iːl
Homophone: seal

Etymology 1

From Middle English sel, sele, from Old English *sǣle (“good, fortunate, happy”) (attested in Old English unsǣle (“evil, wicked”)), from Proto-Germanic *sēliz (“good, happy”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- (“to calm, quiet, be favourable”). Cognate with Danish sæl (“blissful”), Swedish säll (“blissful”), Icelandic sæll (“blissful”), Gothic 𐍃𐌴𐌻𐍃 (sēls, “good, kind, useful”), Latin sōlor (“to comfort, console”).

Adjective

seel (comparative more seel, superlative most seel)

(obsolete) Good; fortunate; opportune; happy.

Etymology 2

From Middle English sele, sel, from Old English sǣl (“time, occasion, a fit time, season, opportunity, the definite time at which an event should take place, time as in bad or good times, circumstances, condition, position, happiness, joy, good fortune, good time, prosperity”), from Proto-Germanic *sēliz (“luck, joy”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- (“to calm, quiet, be favourable”). Cognate with Icelandic sæla (“bliss”), Dutch zalig (“blissful, blessed”). More at silly.

Alternative forms

seal

Noun

seel (plural seels)

(UK, dialectal) Good fortune; happiness; bliss.
(UK, dialectal) Opportunity; time; season.
the seel of the day

Derived terms

barley-seel
hay-seel

Etymology 3

From Middle English silen, from Old French siller, ciller (“to sew up the eyelids of, hoodwink, wink”), from cil (“eyelid”), from Latin cilium (“eyelid, eyelash”).

Verb

seel (third-person singular simple present seels, present participle seeling, simple past and past participle seeled)

(falconry) To sew together the eyes of a young hawk.
- 1651, William Davenant, Gondibert
  Hey who does blindly soar at Rhodalind […]
  Mounts, like seel'd doves, still higher […]
(by extension) To blind.

Translations

To sew together the eyes of a young hawk

French: ciller (fr)
Russian: завя́зывать (ru) (zavjázyvatʹ) глаза́ (ru) (glazá)

To blind — see blind

Etymology 4

Ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *sīgan (“to drop”). Compare Low German sielen (“to lead off water”), French siller (“to run ahead, to make headway”), and English sile (transitive verb).

Verb

seel (third-person singular simple present seels, present participle seeling, simple past and past participle seeled)

(intransitive, obsolete, of a ship) To roll on the waves in a storm.
- c. 1611, Walter Raleigh, Observations on the Navy and Sea Service
  when a Ship seels or rowls in foul Weather

Noun

seel (plural seels)

(obsolete) The rolling or agitation of a ship in a storm.
- 1636, G[eorge] S[andys], “(please specify the page)”, in A Paraphrase upon the Psalmes of David. And upon the Hymnes Dispersed throughout the Old and New Testaments, London: [Andrew Hebb […]], OCLC 1203213428:
  The ship hulls as the billows flow; / And all aboard at ev'ry seel, / Like drunkards, on the hatches reel.

References

seel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

EELS, ELEs, Else, Lees, Slee, eels, else, l'ees, lees, lese, sele

Ingrian

Spatial inflection of *seel*
→○	sublative	sinne
○	superessive	seel
○→	delative	seelt

Etymology

Superessive of se (“it”). Cognates include Finnish siellä and Estonian seal.

Pronunciation

(Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈseːlːæ/, [ˈs̠eːlʲː]

(Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈseːl/, [ˈʃe̝ːl]

Rhymes: -eːlːæ, -eːl

Hyphenation: seel

Adverb

seel

(of location) there
- 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 29:
  A seel ono repo.
  And there is a fox.

References

V. I. Junus (1936) Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka‎, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 133
Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 521
Olga I. Konkova; Nikita A. Dyachkov (2014) Inkeroin Keel: Пособие по Ижорскому Языку‎, →ISBN, page 49

Old French

Alternative forms

cel, saiel, seal, sel, sele

Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin *segellum, from Latin sigillum.

Noun

seel m (oblique plural seeaus or seeax or seiaus or seiax or seels, nominative singular seeaus or seeax or seiaus or seiax or seels, nominative plural seel)

seal (means of authentication for a letter, etc.)

Descendants

Middle French: sceau
- French: sceau
  - → Norman: sceau
→ Middle English: sel, sele, selle, cel, seal, seale, sealle, seil
- English: seal
  - → Sotho: sili
  - → Swahili: sili
- Scots: seal

Etymology 2

From Vulgar Latin *sitellus, masculinized counterpart to Latin sitella.

Noun

seel m (oblique plural seeaus or seeax or seiaus or seiax or seels, nominative singular seeaus or seeax or seiaus or seiax or seels, nominative plural seel)

pail, bucket

Descendants

French: seau

References

Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (seel, supplement)

seel on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Votic

Pronunciation

(Luuditsa, Liivtšülä) IPA^(key): /ˈseːl/, [ˈseːl]
Rhymes: -eːl
Hyphenation: seel

Adverb

seel

Alternative form of siäl

References

V. Hallap, E. Adler, S. Grünberg, M. Leppik (2012), “seel”, in Vadja keele sõnaraamat [A dictionary of the Votic language], 2 edition, Tallinn