sea
The expanse of salt water that covers most of the Earth's surface.
Etymology
From Old English sǣ (sea, lake), from Proto-Germanic *saiwiz. The PIE etymology is disputed. Some scholars reconstruct *seh₂i- (to bind, referring to a large enclosed body of water), others connect it to a pre-Indo-European substrate word. Gothic saiws meant 'lake' rather than 'sea,' suggesting the original meaning was any large body of water.
The Journey: *seh₂i- → sea
*seh₂i- (disputed)
*saiwiz
sǣ
sea
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *seh₂i-. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Dutch | zee — sea |
| German | See — sea, lake |
| Gothic | saiws — lake |
| Old Norse | sær — sea |
Did You Know?
German See is a false friend: it means 'lake' (feminine) or 'sea' (masculine) depending on grammatical gender. The word ocean, by contrast, comes from Greek Ōkeanos, the great river the Greeks believed encircled the world.