sinew

Etymology

This word developed from Middle English synwe, synewe (“tendon; ligament or other connective tissue; muscle; nerve; leaf vein”), which came from Old English sinu (“tendon, sinew; nerve”). That in turn goes back through Proto-West Germanic *sinu and Proto-Germanic *sinwō to Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ (“sinew, tendon”), from *(s)neh₁- (“to twist (threads), spin, weave”). It is cognate with sinnow (“sinew”), Scots senon, sinnon, Saterland Frisian Siene (“sinew”), West Frisian senuw, sine (“sinew; nerve”), Dutch zenuw (“nerve, sinew”), German Sehne (“tendon, sinew; cord”), Icelandic sin (“tendon”), Danish sene (“tendon, sinew”), Swedish sena (“sinew”), Avestan snāuuar (“tendon, sinew”), Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “tendon; nerve; cord”), Latin nervus (“tendon, sinew; nerve”), Sanskrit स्नावन् (snāván, “sinew, tendon; muscle”), and Tocharian B ṣñor (“sinew”). It is a doublet of nerve and neuron.