seine

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English seine, also seyne,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English segne (“drag-net”),^[2][5][6][7] from Proto-West Germanic *sagīna,^[5][2][7] the source also of Old Saxon segina and Old High German segina.^[5][2][6] The West Germanic word was an early borrowing of Latin sagēna,^[2][5][8] from Ancient Greek σαγήνη (sagḗnē, “fishing net; hunting net”),^[2][3][5] a word of unknown origin.^[2][9] The Latin word also gave Old French saïne, modern French seine, which reinforced the English word in Middle English and influenced its spelling.^{[7][10][11][3]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A drag-net: in Old English, about 950, in the Lindisfarne Gospels, where it glosses Latin rete in the Gospel of John (21:11).^[5][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant the same kind of net since Old English.^[5] By 1698 there were phrases such as to shoot a seine, to cast it out.^[5] Johnson (1755) quoted Carew on Cornish "seine boats for taking of pilchards".^[12] The verb, to fish with a seine, is recorded from 1836, and the transitive use, to catch fish with a seine or to fish a stretch of water with one, from 1887.^[5][8] Merriam-Webster also records a figurative use, to search for something as if with a seine.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 950 – Old English segne, a drag-net.^[5][3]
• c. 1300 – Middle English seyne.^[3]
• 1698 – to shoot a seine, to cast the net.^[5]
• 1836 – verb, to fish with a seine.^[5][8][3] The Shorter Oxford dates the verb to the late 17th century.^[10]
• 1887 – to catch fish with a seine, or to fish an area with one.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large fishing net that hangs upright in the water, held up by floats along the top and weighted along the bottom, whose ends are drawn together to enclose the fish.^[13][8][5]

Verb

1. To fish with a seine.^[8][5][13]
2. To catch fish with a seine, or to fish a stretch of water with one: They seined the shallows for bait.^[8][5][13]
3. To search for something as if with a seine.^[8]

Word family

• seiner
• purse seine

Usage notes

The name of the French river is of a different origin, from Latin Sequana.^[14] Sean is an older variant spelling of the net.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul