Etymologically
Log in

secan

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 18:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈseː.t͡ʃɑn/[1]

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]
  • 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