English
since
Since comes from Middle English syns, a contraction of sithens, from sithen ‘after, since’, from Old English sīþþan, from the phrase sīþ þǣm ‘after that (time)’.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sīþ þǣm‘after/since that (time)’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150sīþþan‘afterwards, since’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sithen‘after, since’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500sithens
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500syns
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1599since
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sīþ þǣm‘after/since that (time)’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150sīþþan‘afterwards, since’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sithen‘after, since’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500sithens
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500syns
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1599since
Earliest quotation: c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.: “O ſir Iohn, doe you remember ſince wee lay…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- ‘long, lasting’
season, side, earn, seed, seminar, semen, sow, serene, seminal, sower, 16 more
through Old English sīþ ‘since, after’
through Middle English sithen ‘after, since’
Today it means
adv From a specified time in the past.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English sīþ þǣm / since