Etymologically
Log in

sieben

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 18:01. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

sieben1 seven

Pronunciation

  • /ˈziːbən/, [ˈziːbn̩], /ˈsiːbɛn/[1]
  • Germany: [ˈziːbm̩][1]
  • Austria, Southern-Germany, Switzerland: [ˈsiːm][1]

Forms

sieben (cardinal numeral, usually uninflected)[1][2] Adelung notes that, unlike the other numerals, it does not take a dative -en when used without a noun (mit sieben).[2] In the derivatives sieb- has replaced sieben-: siebte, siebzehn, siebzig.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German siben, inherited from Old High German sibun, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sebun, inherited from Proto-Germanic *sebun (“seven”).[4][1][5] The same word is Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌽 (sibun), Old Norse sjau, Old English seofon, Old Frisian sigun and Old Saxon sibun, and it lives on in Dutch zeven, English seven and Swedish sju.[4][6]

It continues Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥ (“seven”), also found in Sanskrit सप्त (saptá), Ancient Greek ἑπτά (heptá), Latin septem, Old Irish secht, Welsh saith, Lithuanian septynì and Old Church Slavonic седмь (sedmĭ); its further origin is unknown.[4][7] The Germanic form is not a regular continuation, since it lacks the first /t/.[4][8] Kroonen thinks the dental was lost by dissimilation in the ordinal, which also explains the final /n/, and finds this more likely than the view that the Germanic word is a loan from a Semitic-like language (compare Akkadian sebū).[6] Wiktionary reconstructs an earlier *sebunt, whose /t/ it explains by the model of the words for “nine” and “ten” or of the ordinal.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German sibun is recorded from the end of the 8th century, in glosses and in Isidor, then in the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.[5][9][10] Besides the plain number the glosses render Latin septies as sibun stuntōn “seven times”.[5]

Semantic evolution

Seven was a magic and sacred number, and Paul traces many phrases to the Bible and to folk tales: ein Buch mit sieben Siegeln, sieben auf einen Streich, the Grimms' Die sieben Raben and Die sieben Schwaben.[11] After Latin septem artes liberales the Middle Ages spoke of the seven liberal arts, and Middle High German already had die sieben Sinne.[11] Siebensachen “one's belongings” is recorded from 1624, and Siebenmeilenstiefel (1770) is a loan translation of French bottes de sept lieues.[11] Siebenschläfer is the 27th of June, after a medieval legend, and since the 18th century also the edible dormouse.[11]

Die böse Sieben first referred to a card game, Karnöffel, in which the seven was the highest card and bore a picture of the devil, later of an old woman; hence a quarrelsome wife.[4][12] Im siebten Himmel comes from the apocryphal Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and reached the modern languages chiefly through the Talmud and the Koran; the New Testament knows only a third heaven.[4] Wahrig dates the phrase only from the mid-19th century, earlier bis zum dritten Himmel being used.[8]

Timeline

  • End of the 8th century – Old High German sibun in glosses and Isidor.[5][9]
  • Middle High German – die sieben Sinne.[11]
  • 1624 – First record of Siebensachen.[11]
  • 1770 – Siebenmeilenstiefel is formed after French.[11]
  • 18th century – Siebenschläfer names the dormouse.[11]
  • Mid-19th century – im siebten Himmel is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. Seven, the number between six and eight.[1][13]
  2. Seven o'clock: wir treffen uns um sieben.[13]

Noun

  1. die Sieben: the digit 7.[12]
  2. A playing card with seven pips.[12]
  3. (colloquial) The bus or tram of route 7.[12]

Word family

  • siebte
  • Siebtel
  • siebzehn
  • siebzig
  • Siebensachen
  • Siebenschläfer
  • Siebenmeilenstiefel

sieben2 to sift

Pronunciation

  • /ˈziːbən/, [ˈziːbn̩], [ˈziːbm̩][1]
  • Austria: [ˈsiːm][1]

Forms

sieben (third-person singular present siebt, past tense siebte, past participle gesiebt, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle High German siben, formed from Sieb (“sieve”).[1][14][12] The noun is Old High German sib (9th century), from Proto-West Germanic *sibi, the same word as Middle Low German sēve, Dutch zeef, Old English sife and English sieve.[15][16] Pfeifer connects it with Old High German seivar (“saliva, foam”), Seife and sichten, and traces the group to a root Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out, trickle”);[15] the EWA thinks of an extension of the root Proto-Indo-European *seh₂y- (“to bind”), but finds the vowel unexplained.[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German siben means “to sift”, glossing Latin cribrare;[14] Lexer quotes daʒ arge von dem besten sieben, “to sift the bad from the best”.[14]

Semantic evolution

Pfeifer dates the verb to the 15th century, and the transferred sense “to select strictly, weed out” to after 1850.[15] The Grimms quote the plain sense from the Bible, wenn man siebet, so bleibet das unflettige drinnen (Sirach 27:5), and give examples in Eichendorff and Keller of oats for horses, and note its use for straining liquids.[17]

Timeline

  • 9th century – Old High German sib “sieve”.[15]
  • 15th century – The verb sieben is established.[15]
  • After 1850 – The sense “to select strictly”.[15]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To sift, to pass through a sieve: den Puderzucker über den Kuchen sieben.[12][1]
  2. To examine people or things critically and weed out the unsuitable ones: die Jury hat die Einsendungen streng gesiebt.[12][13]

Word family

  • durchsieben
  • aussieben

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  3. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 781
  4. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 847
  5. ^ a b c d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 1170
  6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 780
  8. ^ a b c Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 279
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  13. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  14. ^ a b c Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 898
  15. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  16. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 1165
  17. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 779