sāwel-

The sun. Oldest form *seə₂wel-, colored to *saə₂wel-, contracted to *sāwel-, with zero-grade *s(u)wel-. The element *-el- was originally suffixal, and alternated with *-en-, yielding the variant zero-grades *s(u)wen- and (reduced) *sun-.

Derivatives include Sunday, south, solar, and helium.

1. Variant forms *swen-, *sun-.

a.

(i) sun, from Old English sunne, sun;

(ii) sundew, from Middle Dutch sonne, sun. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic *sunnōn-;

b. Sunday, from Old English sunnandæg, Sunday, from Germanic compound *sunnōn-dagaz, “day of the sun” (translation of Latin diēs sōlis);

c. south, southern, from Old English sūth, south, and sūtherne, southern, from Germanic derivative *sunthaz, “sun-side,” south.

2. Variant form *s(ə)wōl-. sol³, Sol, solar, solarium; girasol, insolate, parasol, solanaceous, solanine, solstice, turnsole, from Latin sōl, the sun.

3. Suffixed form *sāwel-yo-. heliacal, helio-, helium; anthelion, aphelion, isohel, parhelion, perihelion, from Greek hēlios, sun.

 

[Pokorny sāwel- 881.]

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