seem

Pronunciation

• IPA: /siːm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English semen (“to befit; to appear to be”),^[2][3][4] of Scandinavian origin:^[5][3] compare Old Norse sœma (“to honour; to conform to”), from sœmr (“fitting”).^[2][4][6][7] The Norse words are from Proto-Germanic *sōmiz, the source also of Old English sōm (“agreement, reconciliation”) and sēman (“to reconcile”),^[2][7] from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; as one, together”),^[2][4] so seem is related to same.^[7][8][9] The noun is from the verb.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To befit, be suitable to”: probably before 1200;^[3] “to appear to be”, impersonal hit semeth “it seems”, about 1200^[2][3] or before 1200.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to be fitting or appropriate”, from about 1300, is the original one, but it is obsolete except in the derived seemly and unseemly.^[2] With other verbs, as in seem to be, it is from about 1200.^[2] “To be visible, be apparent” is a Middle English sense of the late 14th century,^[2] and “to appear to oneself, think oneself” is from the 1630s.^[2] An obsolete sense “to vouchsafe, deign” is from before 1300.^[10] The noun, “seeming, appearance”, is from about 1440 and is now chiefly Scots.^[10][6]

Timeline

• before 1200 – to befit.^[3]
• c. 1200 – to appear to be.^[2][3]
• c. 1300 – to be fitting.^[2]
• c. 1440 – noun, appearance.^[10]
• 1630s – to think oneself.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To give the impression of being; to appear.
2. To appear to one's own mind: I seem to remember.
3. To appear to be true or likely.
4. To appear to exist.

Word family

• misseem
• seemer
• meseems
• seeming
• seemly

Related words

• unseemly
• beseem
• same
• similar
• semblance

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press