Etymology
1. O.E.
seon (contracted class V strong verb; past tense
seah, pp.
sewen), from P.Gmc.
*sekhwanan (cf. O.S., O.H.G.
sehan, M.H.G., Ger.
sehen, O.Fris.
sia, M.Du.
sien, O.N.
sja, Goth.
saihwan), from PIE base
*sekw- "to see," which is "probably" the same base that produced words for "say" in Greek and Latin, and also words for "follow" (cf. L.
sequor), but "opinions differ in regard to the semantic starting-point and sequences" [Buck]. Thus
see could originally mean "follow with the eyes." Used in M.E. to mean "behold in the imagination or in a dream" (c.1200), "to recognize the force of (a demonstration)," also c.1200, "often with ref. to metaphorical light or eyes" [OED], and "to learn by reading" (1426). Past tense
saw developed from O.E. pl.
sawon."When you have seen one of their Pictures, you have seen all." [Blake, c.1811]
Sense of "escort" (e.g. to
see someone home) first recorded 1607 in Shakespeare. Meaning "to receive as a visitor" is attested from c.1500. Gambling sense of "equal a bet" is from 1599.
See you as a casual farewell first attested 1891.
Seeing Eye dog first attested 1929, Amer.Eng., trademarked by Seeing Eye Inc. of New Jersey.
2. From Middle English seen, from Old English sēon (“to see, look, behold, perceive, observe, discern, understand, know”), from Proto-West Germanic *sehwan, from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną (“to see”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to see, notice”).
3. Etymology 1 sense 9 is a calque of Latin vidē (“see (thou)”, 2ⁿᵈ person singular imperative), which was also borrowed into academic English (see vide) as well as Portuguese.
4. Cognates
5. Cognate with Scots see, sei (“to see”), Yola sau, ze, zee, zey, zie (“to see”), North Frisian se, si, siin, siine, siinj, sä, säie (“to see”), Saterland Frisian sjo (“to see”), West Frisian sjen (“to see”), Bavarian segn (“to see”), Central Franconian sehn, senn (“to see”), Dutch zien (“to see”), Low German sehn (“to see; to look”), German sehen (“to see”), Limburgish séëne, zeen (“to see”), Luxembourgish gesinn (“to see”), Alemannic German gseh (“to see”), Mòcheno sechen (“to see”), Vilamovian zaon (“to see”), Yiddish זען (zen, “to see”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish se (“to see”), Elfdalian sją̊ (“to see”), Faroese síggja (“to see”), Icelandic sjá (“to see”), Norwegian Nynorsk sjå (“to see”), sia (“to foretell”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍈𐌰𐌽 (saiƕan, “to see”), and more distantly with Albanian shof, shoh (“to see”), Latin secūtus, sequūtus (“followed”), Ancient Greek ἕπομαι (hépomai, “to follow, obey”), Persian ا (a), از (az), ز (ze, “from, of”), Luwian 𒁕𒀀𒌋𒄿𒅖 (“eye”), Sanskrit सच् (sac, “to be associated with, familiar with, have to do with”). See: Middle English '
seen', Proto-Germanic '
*sehwaną', Scots '
see', Frisian, Northern 'se', Dutch '
zien', German, old spelling '
sehen', Luxembourgish '
gesinn', Alemannic German '
gseh', Wymysorys '
zaon', Faroese '
síggja', Icelandic '
sjá', Norwegian, nynorsk '
sjå', Sanskrit '
सच्'.
Verbs referencing "see"
Scots
see, German, old spelling
sehen, Belize Creole si, Sranan
si, Danish
se, Norwegian
se, Norwegian, nynorsk
sjå, Albanian
shoh, German, Pennsylvania
sehne, Sranan
syi, Hunsrik
sihn.