Etymology
1. O.E.
seoþan "to boil" (class II strong verb; past tense
seaþ, pp.
soden), from P.Gmc.
*seuthanan (cf. O.N.
sjoða, O.Fris.
siatha, Du.
zieden, O.H.G.
siodan, Ger.
sieden "to seethe"), from PIE base
*seut- "to seethe, boil." Driven out of its literal meaning by boil (v.); it survives largely in metaphoric extensions. Fig. use, of persons or populations, "to be in a state of inward agitation" is recorded from 1588 (implied in
seething). It had wider fig. uses in O.E., e.g. "to try by fire, to afflict with cares." Now conjugated weak, and pp. sodden (q.v.) no longer felt as connected.
2. The verb is derived from Middle English sethen, seeth (“to boil, seethe; to cook; etc.”) [and other forms], from Old English sēoþan (“to boil, seethe; to cook; etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *seuþan, from Proto-Germanic *seuþaną (“to boil, seethe”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂sewt-, *h₂sew-, *h₂sut- (“to move about, roil, seethe”).
3. The noun is derived from the verb.
4. Cognates
5. * Danish syde (“to seethe, boil”)
6. * Dutch zieden (“to boil, seethe”)
7. * German sieden (“to boil, seethe”)
8. * Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (sauþs, “burnt offering, sacrifice”)
9. * Icelandic sjóða (“to boil, seethe”)
10. * Low German seden (“to seethe”)
11. * Norwegian Bokmål syde (“to boil, seethe”)
12. * Norwegian Nynorsk sjoda, syda (“to boil, seethe”)
13. * Scots seth, seith (“to seethe”)
14. * Swedish sjuda (“to boil, seethe”)
15. * West Frisian siede (“to boil”) See: Middle English '
sethen', Proto-Germanic '
*seuþaną', Danish '
syde', Dutch '
zieden', German, old spelling '
sieden', Icelandic '
sjóða', Low Saxon 'seden', Norwegian '
syde', Norwegian, nynorsk '
sjoda', Swedish '
sjuda'.
Verbs referencing "seethe"
Swedish
sjuda.