English
sill
Sill comes from Old English syll ‘sill, threshold, foundation, base, basis’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *sulī.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sulī‘bar, sill’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150syll‘sill, threshold, foundation, base, basis’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sille
- Englishearliest quotation 1980sill
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sulī‘bar, sill’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150syll‘sill, threshold, foundation, base, basis’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sille
- Englishearliest quotation 1980sill
Earliest quotation: 1980, Geological Survey Professional Paper, Volume 1119: “Minor palingenetic magmas probably were generated at this time…”
The story
Related also to German Schwelle ( > Danish svelle), Old Norse svill, Latin silva (‘wood, forest’), Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sel- ‘jump, spring’
result, sale, savage, salmon, insult, salon, salvage, sally, exile, salient, silva, resilient, salle, sylvan, somersault, salacious, slink, selva, seel, selly, 18 more
Today it means
noun A breast wall; window breast; horizontal brink which forms the base of a window.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *sulī / sill