seel

See also: Seel

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English sel, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English *sǣle (“good, fortunate, happy”) (attested in Old English unsǣle (“evil, wicked”)), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *sēliz (“good, happy”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- (“to calm, quiet, be favourable”). Cognate with Danish sæl (“blissful”), Swedish säll (“blissful”), Icelandic sæll (“blissful”), Gothic 𐍃𐌴𐌻𐍃 (sēls, “good, kind, useful”), Latin sōlor (“comfort, console”).

Adjective

seel (comparative more seel, superlative most seel)

1. (obsolete) Good; fortunate; opportune; happy.

Etymology 2

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English sele, sel, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English sǣl (“time, occasion, a fit time, season, opportunity, the definite time at which an event should take place, time as in bad or good times, circumstances, condition, position, happiness, joy, good fortune, good time, prosperity”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *sēliz (“luck, joy”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- (“to calm, quiet, be favourable”). Cognate with Icelandic sæla (“bliss”), Dutch zalig (“blissful, blessed”). More at silly.

Alternative forms

• seal

Noun

seel (plural seels)

1. (UK, dialectal) Good fortune; happiness; bliss.
2. (UK, dialectal) Opportunity; time; season.

   the seel of the day

Derived terms

• barley-seel
• hay-seel

Etymology 3

From Middle English silen, from Old French siller, ciller (“to sew up the eyelids of, hoodwink, wink”), from cil (“eyelid”), from Latin cilium (“eyelid, eyelash”).

Verb

seel (third-person singular simple present seels, present participle seeling, simple past and past participle seeled)

1. (falconry) To sew together the eyes of a young hawk.
   • (Can we date this quote by J. Reading and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Fond hopes, like seeled doves for want of better light, mount till they end their flight with falling.

2. (by extension) To blind.

Translations

To sew together the eyes of a young hawk

• French: ciller (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: завя́зывать (ru) (zavjázyvatʹ) глаза́ (ru) (glazá)

To blind — see blind

Etymology 4

Compare Low German sielen (“to lead off water”), French siller (“to run ahead, to make headway”), and English sile (transitive verb).

Verb

seel (third-person singular simple present seels, present participle seeling, simple past and past participle seeled)

1. (intransitive, obsolete, of a ship) To roll on the waves in a storm.
   • (Can we date this quote by Samuel Pepys and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     […] the ship seeled so much that I was not able to stand […]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Raleigh to this entry?)

Noun

seel (plural seels)

1. The rolling or agitation of a ship in a storm.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sandys to this entry?)

Anagrams

• EELS, ELEs, Slee, eels, else, lees, lese, sele

---

Ingrian

Adverb

seel

1. there

---

Old French

Alternative forms

• cel, saiel, seal, sel, sele

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *segellum, from Latin sigillum.

Noun

seel oblique singular, m (oblique plural seeaus or seeax or seiaus or seiax or seels, nominative singular seeaus or seeax or seiaus or seiax or seels, nominative plural seel)

1. seal (means of authentication for a letter, etc.)

Descendants

• Middle French: sceau
  • French: sceau
    • → Norman: sceau
• → Middle English: sel, sele, selle, cel, seal, seale, sealle, seil
  • English: seal
    • → Punjabi: ਸੀਲ (sīl)
    • → Sotho: sili
    • → Swahili: sili
  • Scots: seal

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (seel, supplement)
• seel on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub