English
selfsame
Selfsame comes from Proto-Indo-European *swé ‘self’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swé‘self’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150self
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500self sam
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592selfsame
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swé‘self’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150self
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500self sam
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592selfsame
Earliest quotation: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “For both of you are Birds of ſelfe-ſame Feather.”
The story
The English word is analysable as self + same.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *swé ‘self’
such, suicide, solo, idiot, sole, solitary, solitude, sans, desolate, desolation, solitaire, swain, idiocy, sullen, solus, sere, 19 more
Today it means
adj Chiefly preceded by the: precisely the same; the very same; the same not only in being similar but in being identical.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *swé / selfsame