secan

Forms

sēċan (third-person singular present sēċeþ, past singular sōhte, past plural sōhton)^[1]

• Northumbrian: ⟨oe⟩ in the Lindisfarne gloss, soecas “you seek”.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek, look for”).^[1] The verb is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sōkjan), Old Norse sǿkja, Old Frisian sēka, Old Saxon sōkian and Old High German suohhen.^[3][4]

Kroonen relates it to the strong verb Proto-Germanic *sakaną (Old English sacan (“to contend, accuse”)); though it looks like a causative, he rejects that analysis because of its meaning and the e-grade of the related forms in Latin and Greek, and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g-ie-.^[3] Köbler gives the root *seh₂g- (“to track down, seek out”) (Pokorny 876).^[4] Outside Germanic, Wiktionary compares Latin sāgiō (“to perceive keenly”) and Old Irish saigid (“seeks”).^[1]

The /j/ of the suffix caused i-umlaut of /oː/ to /eː/ and fronted the /k/ before it, so that *sōkjan became sēċan.^[5] Early West Saxon spellings such as ⟨sēċean⟩ beside ⟨sēċan⟩ only mark the palatal consonant.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, added in the middle of the ninth century: & ðes awergdan bið soht scyld his “and the sin of the wicked one shall be sought out” renders the Latin “et maligni requiretur delictum eius” of Psalm 9.^[7][8] In the Pastoral Care (890×897) the law is to be sought from the priest: Sio æ sceal beon soht on ðæs sacerdes muðe “the law shall be sought in the priest's mouth”.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is to try to find, look for or search for a person or thing; from it come trying to get something from someone (with tō for the person asked), asking and inquiring, striving after and longing for.^[2][10] In glosses it renders Latin “quaerere”, “requirere”, “inquirere” and “petere”.^[4] To seek a place or person is also to go there, to visit;^[11] Beowulf uses it for going to a people or a hall, and for trying to reach an enemy's life in attack.^[11] In prose it can mean to attack with an army: the Orosius has the Spartans sought mid gefeohte “with battle”.^[12] In the laws it is used of tracking down one's own goods, of proceeding against an opponent and of seeking a lord's protection.^[13]

Durkin notes that the plant name sōlsēċe (“heliotrope”) renders Latin solsequium with a derivative of sēċan in its second part.^[14] The verb lived on as Middle English sēchen, now English seek; the Middle English Dictionary traces it to sēcan with the Old Norse verb beside it, and Etymonline speaks of Norse influence.^[15][16]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – bið soht “shall be sought” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[7][8]
• 890×897 – the law sought in the priest's mouth in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[9][8]
• s. x² – sōhte seledrēoriġ sinces bryttan in The Wanderer (Exeter Book).^[1][17]
• s. x/xi – sēċean “to go to, visit” and sāwle sēċan “to go after a life” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[11][18]

Meanings

Verb

1. to seek, look for, try to find.^[2][4]
2. to try to get, ask for (something from someone, with tō).^[2]
3. to inquire into, examine.^[12][10]
4. to strive after, long for, desire.^[10]
5. to go to, visit (a place or person).^[12][11]
6. to attack, go against with an army.^[12][11]

Word family

• āsēċan
• forsēċan
• ġeondsēċan
• ġesēċan
• þurhsēċan
• undersēċan
• sōlsēċe

Descendants

• Middle English seken (→ English seek; English seech; Scots seek)^[1]

Related words

• sacan
• sōcn

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 854
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 464
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sēcan
5. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.15
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 6.9
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
8. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
10. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 301
11. ^ a b c d e Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. sēċan
12. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 700
13. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 193
14. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 115
15. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
16. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 223
18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344