sewh₁-
“to sew, to stitch”Sew, stitch, bind
A PIE verbal root meaning "to sew, to stitch," continued in English sew and seam; Latin suere ("to sew"), whence suture and couture; Greek hýmen ("membrane," originally "something sewn together"); and Sanskrit sī́vyati ("sews"). One of the clearest PIE craft vocabulary items.
Discussion
The PIE root *sew- (to sew, to stitch, to bind with thread) produced the vocabulary of needlework across the family — one of the oldest textile technologies, predating the loom and contemporary with the earliest evidence of sewn garments in the archaeological record.
Latin suere (to sew) continues the root and gave English: suture (a surgical sewing — the closing of a wound by stitching), and the combining form sut- in medical terminology.
English sew (OE sēowan/sīwian, from PGmc *siwjaną) continues the root natively. The word has been in continuous use since before the Anglo-Saxon period with the same meaning — sewing is one of the activities for which English retains its native Germanic vocabulary rather than adopting a French or Latin replacement. German nähen (to sew) derives from a different root, but the Gothic siujan confirms the Germanic cognate.
Sanskrit sī́vyati ("he sews") and the related sū́tra- ("thread, string" — then "a string of rules," giving English sutra in the Buddhist/Hindu sense of a doctrinal text) continue the root in Indo-Iranian. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Buddhist sutras are etymologically "threads" — teachings strung together like beads on a string, stitched into a coherent fabric of doctrine.
Lithuanian siū́ti (to sew) and Old Church Slavonic šiti (to sew) confirm the Balto-Slavic reflexes.
The word's survival across every major branch with the same meaning reflects the universality and antiquity of sewing. The PIE speakers sewed — and the word they used for this fundamental textile operation has outlasted every change of material, tool, and technique from bone needles and sinew thread to industrial sewing machines.
Notes
gsc-gap: source of "sew", "seam", "suture", "couture", "hymen"
Laryngeal Analysis
Contains *h₁; lengthens preceding vowel in certain grades.
Ablaut
Full grade *sewh₁-, zero grade *suh₁-.