Etymology — The Origins of English Words

Inherited from Middle English Scocheman. By surface analysis, Scotch + -man.

From Middle English salowe, from Old English salu, from Proto-West Germanic *salu, from Proto-Germanic *salwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *selH-. See also Dutch zaluw, dialectal German sal; also Irish salach (“dirty”), Welsh halog, Latin salīva, Russian соло́вый (solóvyj, “cream-colored”), and - through Frankish - French sale.

Equivalent to rigourous + -ness.

From Middle English servisable, from Old French servisable, from servise. By surface analysis, service + -able.

From scant + -y.

From salary + -ed.

From seat + -er (measurement suffix) or -er (agent noun suffix).

Borrowed from French saccade.

Origin uncertain. Possibly from French or Middle French rouiller (“to rust, make muddy”), from Old French rouil (“mud, rust”), from Vulgar Latin *robicula, from Latin robigo (“rust, blight”)

From scold + -er.

From school + fellow.

Borrowed from Spanish zambo.

Possibly from Middle English scraulen (“to spread out one's limbs; sprawl”), itself an alteration of spraulen (“to sprawl”) or craulen, crawlen (“to crawl”). Alternatively, from scrall, a contraction of scrabble.

From Middle English ruke, from or related to Old Norse hraukr, which is from Proto-Germanic *hraukaz (“haystack, heap”). Compare Icelandic hrúka, Swedish ruka.

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”). The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates * Danish syde (“to seethe, boil”) * Dutch zieden (“to boil, seethe”) * German sieden (“to boil, seethe”) * Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (sauþs, “burnt offering, sacrifice”) * Icelandic sjóða (“to boil, seethe”) * Low German seden (“to seethe”) * Norwegian Bokmål syde (“to boil, seethe”) * Norwegian Nynorsk sjoda, syda (“to boil, seethe”) * Scots seth, seith (“to seethe”) * Swedish sjuda (“to boil, seethe”) * West Frisian siede (“to boil”)

From Middle English selde (“seat, store”), from Old English seld (noun), neuter, metathetic form of setl (noun) (English settle).

Back-formation from scuzzy.

From Middle English see-cost, see-coste, see coost, equivalent to sea + coast. Compare West Frisian seekoast (“seacoast”), Dutch zeekust (“seacoast”), German Seeküste (“seacoast”).

root + -age

A variant of set to distinguish various technical senses.

Probably cognate with Dutch rochelen (“to hawk”).

From Classical Latin sextus (“sixth”) + -illion; originally the sixth power of a million, 10³⁶. Compare slightly earlier quintillion, Middle French sixlion (1484) and French sextillion (1765). First attested in 1689 in John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (see the quotation).

From routine + -ary.

From scrupulous + -ly, from Middle French scrupuleux, from Latin scrūpulōsus (“careful, scrupulous”), from scrūpulus (“anxiety, uneasiness”), diminutive from scrūpus (“sharp stone; anxiety”) + -ulus.