Online Etymology Dictionary

-'s: suffix forming the possessive case of most Mod.Eng. nouns, was gradually extended in M.E. from O.E. -es, the most common genitive inflection of masc. and neut. nouns (cf. dæg "day," gen. dæges "day's"). But O.E. also had genitives in -e, -re, -an as well as "mutation-genitives" (cf. boc "book," plural bec), and the -es form was never used in plural (where -a, -ra, -na prevailed), thus avoiding the ambiguity of words like kings'. As a suffix forming some adverbs, it represents the gen. sing. ending of O.E. masc. and neuter nouns and some adjectives.
-s (1): suffix forming almost all Mod.Eng. plural nouns, was gradually extended in M.E. from O.E. -as, the nom. plural and acc. plural ending of certain "strong" masc. nouns (cf. dæg "day," nom./acc. pl. dagas "days"). The commonest Gmc. declension, traceable back to the original PIE inflection system, it is also the source of the Du. -s plurals and (by rhotacism) Scand. -r plurals (e.g. Swed. dagar). Much more uniform today than originally; O.E. also had a numerous category of "weak" nouns that formed their plurals in -an, and other strong nouns that formed plurals with -u. Quirk and Wrenn, in their O.E. grammar, estimate that 45 percent of the nouns a student will encounter will be masc., nearly four-fifths of them with gen. sing. -es and nom./acc. pl. in -as. Less than half, but still the largest chunk. The triumphs of -'s possessives and -s plurals represent common patterns in language: using only a handful of suffixes to do many jobs (cf. -ing), and the most common variant squeezing out the competition. To further muddy the waters, it's been extended in slang since 1936 to singulars (e.g. ducks, sweets, babes) as an affectionate or dim. suffix. O.E. single-syllable collectives (sheep, folk) as well as weights, measures, and units of time did not use -s. The use of it in these cases began in M.E., but the older custom is preserved in many traditional dialects (ten pound of butter; more than seven year ago).
-s (2): third pers. sing. pres. indic. suffix of verbs, it represents O.E. -es, -as, which began to replace -eð in Northumbrian 10c., and gradually spread south until by Shakespeare it had emerged from colloquialism and -eth began to be limited to more dignified speeches.
-sch-: this letter group can represent five distinct sounds in English; it first was used by M.E. writers to render O.E. sc-, a sound now generally pronounced "-sh-." Sometimes it was miswritten for -ch-. It also was taken in from Ger. (schnapps) and Yiddish (schlemiel). In words derived from classical languages, it represents L. sch-, Gk. skh- but in some of these words the spelling is a restoration and the pronunciation does not follow it (cf. schism).
-ship: O.E. -sciepe, Anglian -scip "state, condition of being," from P.Gmc. *-skapaz (cf. O.N. -skapr, O.Fris. -skip, Du. -schap, Ger. -schaft), from base *skap- "to create, ordain, appoint." Cognate with O.E. gesceape (see shape).
-sis: suffix in Gk. nouns denoting action, process, state, condition, from Gk. -sis, which is identical in meaning with L. -entia, Eng. -ing.
-sk: reflexive suffix in words of Dan. origin (e.g. bask, lit. "to bathe oneself"), contracted from O.N. sik, reflexive pronoun corresponding to Goth. sik, O.H.G. sih, Ger. sich "himself, herself, itself," from PIE base *se- (cf. L. se "himself").
-some: as a suffix forming adjectives, it represents O.E. -sum (see some; cf. O.Fris. -sum, Ger. -sam, O.N. -samr), related to sama "same." As a suffix added to numerals meaning "a group of that number" (cf. twosome) it represents O.E. sum "some," used after the genitive plural (cf. sixa sum "six-some"), the inflection disappearing in M.E. Use of some with a number meaning "approximately" also was in O.E.
-sophy: suffix meaning "knowledge," from O.Fr. -sophie, from L. -sophia, from Gk. -sophia, from sophia "skill, wisdom, knowledge," of unknown origin.
-stan: "country," source of place names such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc., from Pers. -stan "country," from Indo-Iranian *stanam "place," lit. "where one stands," from PIE *sta-no-, from base *sta- "to stand" (see stet).
-ster: O.E. -istre, from P.Gmc. *-istrijon, feminine agent suffix used as the equivalent of masculine -ere. Also used in M.E. to form nouns of action (meaning "a person who ...") without regard for gender. The genderless agent noun use apparently was a broader application of the original feminine suffix, beginning in the north of England, but linguists disagree over whether this indicates female domination of weaving and baking trades, as represented in names like Webster, Baxter, Brewster, etc. (though spinster clearly represents a female ending). In Modern Eng., the suffix has been productive in forming derivative nouns (gamester, punster, etc.).
S.P.Q.R.: the insignia of Rome, from L. Senatus Populusque Romanus "the Senate and People of Rome."
S.T.P.: commercial motor oil additive, probably an acronym of scientifically treated petroleum. As the street name of a type of psychedelic drug, attested from 1967.
S.W.A.T.: 1968, acronym for Special Weapons and Tactics squad or team; or Special Weapons Attack Team.
Sabaoth: early 14c., from L.L., from Gk. Sabaoth, from Heb. tzebhaoth "hosts, armies," plural of tzabha "army." A word translated in O.T. in phrase "the Lord of Hosts," but originally left untranslated in N.T. and "Te Deum" in the designation Lord of Sabaoth; often confused with sabbath (q.v.).
sabbat: "witches' sabbath," 1652, from Fr. form of sabbath (q.v.); a special application of that word.
sabbatarian: 1620, "a Christian unusually strict about Sabbath observation," from L. Sabbatarius (adj.), from Sabbatum (see Sabbath). Meaning "member of a Christian sect which maintained the Sabbath should be observed on the seventh day" is attested from 1645; earlier sabbatary (1596).
Sabbath: O.E. sabat "Saturday," observed by the Jews as a day of rest, from L. sabbatum, from Gk. sabbaton, from Heb. shabbath, prop. "day of rest," from shabath "he rested." The Babylonians regarded seventh days as unlucky, and avoided certain activities then; the Jewish observance may have begun as a similar custom. From the seventh day of the week, it began to be applied c.1410 to the first day (Sunday), a change completed during the Reformation. The original meaning is preserved in Sp. Sabado, It. Sabbato, and other languages' names for "Saturday." Hung. szombat, Rus. simbata, Fr. samedi, Ger. Samstag "Saturday" are from V.L. sambatum, from Gk. *sambaton, a vulgar nasalized variant of sabbaton.
sabbatical: 1645, "of or suitable for the Sabbath," from L. sabbaticus, from Gk. sabbatikos "of the Sabbath" (see Sabbath). Meaning "a year's absence granted to researchers" (originally one year in seven, to university professors) first recorded 1886 (the thing itself is attested from 1880, at Harvard), related to sabbatical year (1599) in Mosaic law, the seventh year, in which land was to remain untilled and debtors and slaves released.
saber: "single-edged sword," 1680, from Fr. sabre "heavy, curved sword" (17c.), alteration of sable (1640), from Ger. Sabel, probably ult. from Hung. szablya "saber," lit. "tool to cut with," from szabni "to cut." The Slavic words (cf. Rus. sablya, Polish szabla "sword, saber") are perhaps also from Ger. It. sciabla seems to be directly from Hungarian. Saber-rattling "militarism" is attested from 1922. Saber-toothed cat (originally tiger) is attested from 1849.
Sabian: an adherent of a religious sect mentioned thrice in the Qu'ran (in which they are classified with Christians, and Jews as "true believers" worth of toleration by Muslims), 1614, from Arabic, of uncertain origin. Perhaps the ref. is to a Gnostic sect akin to the later Mandæans (if the word derives, as some think it does, from Arabic ch'bae "to baptize"); but it has the appearance of derivation from the Sem. root of Heb. tzabha "host" (see Sabaoth), and as the Sabians were thought in the Middle Ages to have been star-worshippers, it was interpreted as referring to the "host of heaven."
Sabine: "pertaining to a people in ancient Italy," late 14c., from L. Sabinus (in poetic L. often Sabellus), connected by Tucker to root *sabh- "combine, gather, unite" (cf. Skt. sabha "gathering of village community," Rus. sebr "neighbor, friend," Goth. sibja, O.H.G. sippa "blood-relationship, peace, alliance," O.E. sibb "relationship, peace").
sable (1): 1423, from M.Fr. sable (also martre sable "sable martin"), in reference to the mammal or its fur, from O.Fr., from a Gmc. source (cf. M.Du. sabel, M.L.G. sabel, M.H.G. zobel), ultimately from a Slavic source (cf. Rus., Pol., Czech sobol, the name of the animal), "which itself is borrowed from an East-Asiatic language" [Klein].
sable (2): 1352, "black" as a heraldic color, commonly identified with sable (1), but the animal's fur is brown and this may be a different word of unknown origin; it may reflect a medieval custom (unattested) of dyeing sable fur black.
sabotage (n.): 1910, from Fr. sabotage, from saboter "to sabotage, bungle," lit. "walk noisily," from sabot "wooden shoe" (13c.), altered (by association with O.Fr. bot "boot") from M.Fr. savate "old shoe," from an unidentified source that also produced similar words in O.Prov., Port., Sp., It., Arabic and Basque. In Fr., the sense of "deliberately and maliciously destroying property" originally was in ref. to labor disputes, but the oft-repeated story that the modern meaning derives from strikers' supposed tactic of throwing old shoes into machinery is not supported by the etymology. Likely it was not meant as a literal image; the word was used in Fr. in a variety of "bungling" senses, such as "to play a piece of music badly." The verb is first attested 1918 in Eng., from the noun. Saboteur is 1921, a borrowing from Fr.
Sabra: "Jew born in Palestine (or, after 1948, Israel)," 1945, from Mod.Heb. sabrah, lit. "prickly pear."
sac: "biological pocket," 1741, from Fr. sac, from L. saccus "bag" (see sack (n.1)).
saccharin: "white crystalline compound used as a sugar substitute," 1885, from Ger., coined by chemist Fahlberg, 1879, from L. saccharon (see saccharine).
saccharine: 1674, "of or like sugar," from M.L. saccharum "sugar," from L. saccharon, from Gk. sakkharon, from Pali sakkhara, from Skt. sarkara "gravel, grit" (see sugar). Metaphoric sense of "overly sweet" first recorded 1841.
sacerdotal: c.1400, from O.Fr. sacerdotal, from L. sacerdotalis "of or pertaining to a priest," from sacerdos (gen. sacerdotis) "priest," lit. "offerer of sacrifices," from sacer "holy" + stem of dare "to give" (see date (1)).
sachem: chief of an Amer. Indian tribe, 1622, from Narragansett (Algonquian) sachimau "chief, ruler," cognate with Abenaki sangman, Delaware sakima, Micmac sakumow, Penobscot sagumo (source of sagamore, 1613). Applied jocularly to a prominent member of any society from 1684; specific political use in U.S. is from 1890, from its use as the title of the 12 high officials of the Tammany Society of New York.
sachet: "small perfumed bag," 1838, from Fr. sachet (12c.), dim. of sac (see sac). A reborrowing of a word that had been used 15c. in the sense "small bag, wallet."
sack (n.1): "large bag," O.E. sacc (W.Saxon), sec (Mercian), sæc (Old Kentish) "large cloth bag," also "sackcloth," from P.Gmc. *sakkiz (cf. M.Du. sak, O.H.G. sac, O.N. sekkr, but Goth. sakkus probably is directly from Gk.), an early borrowing from L. saccus (cf. O.Fr. sac, Sp. saco, It. sacco), from Gk. sakkos, from Semitic (cf. Heb. saq "sack"). The wide spread of the word is probably due to the story of Joseph. Slang meaning "bunk, bed" is from 1825, originally nautical. The verb meaning "go to bed" is recorded from 1946.
sack (n.2): "a dismissal from work," 1825, from sack (n.1), perhaps from the notion of the worker going off with his tools in a bag; the original formula was to give (someone) the sack. It is attested earlier in Fr. (on luy a donné son sac, 17c.) and M.Du. (iemand den zak geven). The verb is recorded from 1841.
sack (n.3): "sherry," 1531, alteration of Fr. vin sec "dry wine," from L. siccus "dry."
sack (v.1): "to plunder," 1549, from M.Fr. sac, in the phrase mettre à sac "put it in a bag," a military leader's command to his troops to plunder a city (parallel to It. sacco, with the same range of meaning), from V.L. *saccare "to plunder," originally "to put plundered things into a sack," from L. saccus "bag" (see sack (n.1)). The notion is probably of putting booty in a bag. This is the root of the verb in the U.S. football sense (1969).
sackbut: "medieval wind instrument," 1509, from Fr. saquebute, a bass trumpet with a slide like a trombone; presumably identical with O.N.Fr. saqueboute (14c.), "a lance with an iron hook for pulling down mounted men," said to be from O.N.Fr. saquier "to pull, draw" + bouter "to thrust." In Dan. iii.5, used wrongly to transl. Aramaic sabbekha, name of a stringed instrument (translated correctly in Septuagint as sambuke, and in Vulgate as sambuca, both names of stringed instruments, and probably ult. cognate with the Aramaic word). The error began with Coverdale (1535), who evidently thought it was a wind instrument and rendered it with shawm (q.v.); the Geneva translators, evidently following Coverdale, chose sackbut because it sounded like the original Aramaic word, and this was followed in KJV and Revised versions.
sackcloth: penitential garb, c.1300, from sack (n.1) + cloth. In the Biblical sense it was of goats' or camels' hair, the coarsest possible clothing.
sacrament: c.1175, from O.Fr. sacrament (12c.), from L. sacramentum "a consecrating," from sacrare "to consecrate" (see sacred); a Church Latin loan-translation of Gk. mysterion "mystery."
sacre bleu: stereotypical Fr. oath, 1869, from Fr. sacré bleu, lit. "holy blue," a euphemism for sacré Dieu (1768), "holy God."
sacred: c.1300, from pp. of obsolete verb sacren "to make holy" (early 13c.), from O.Fr. sacrer (12c.), from L. sacrare "to make sacred, consecrate," from sacer (gen. sacri) "sacred, dedicated, holy, accursed," from O.L. saceres, which Tucker connects to base *saq- "bind, restrict, enclose, protect," explaining that "words for both 'oath' & 'curse' are regularly words of 'binding.' " But Buck merely groups it with Oscan sakrim, Umbrian sacra and calls it "a distinctive Italic group, without any clear outside connections." Nasalized form is sancire "make sacred, confirm, ratify, ordain." Sacred cow "object of Hindu veneration," is from 1891; figurative sense is first recorded 1910, from Western views of Hinduism.
sacrifice (n.): mid-13c., from O.Fr. sacrifise (12c.), from L. sacrificium, from sacrificus "performing priestly functions or sacrifices," from sacra "sacred rites" (prop. neut. pl. of sacer "sacred," see sacred) + root of facere "to do, perform" (see factitious). L. sacrificium is glossed in O.E. by ansegdniss. Sense of "something given up for the sake of another" is first recorded 1590s. Baseball sense first attested 1880. The verb is first recorded late 13c.
sacrilege: c.1300, "crime of stealing what is consecrated to God," from O.Fr. sacrilege (12c.), from L. sacrilegium "temple robbery," from sacrilegus "stealer of sacred things," from phrase sacrum legere "to steal sacred things," from sacrum "sacred object (from neuter sing. of sacer "sacred") + legere "take, pick up" (see lecture). Second element is related to lecture but is not from religion. Transferred sense of "profanation of anything held sacred" is attested from late 14c.
sacrilegious: 1580s, from L. sacrilegiosum, from L. sacrilegium (see sacrilege).
sacristan: late 14c., from M.L. sacristanus, from L. sacrista, from sacer (gen. sacri) "sacred" (see sacred). Cf. sexton, which is a doublet.
sacristy: "repository of sacred things," c.1600, from Anglo-Fr. sacrestie, from M.L. sacrista, from L. sacer "sacred" (see sacred).
sacrosanct: 1601, from L. sacrosanctus "protected by religious sanction," from sacro, abl. of sacrum "religious sanction" (from neut. sing. of sacer "sacred") + sanctus, pp. of sancire "make sacred" (see sacred).
sacrum: "bone at the base of the spine," 1753, from L.L. os sacrum "sacred bone," from L. os "bone" + sacrum, neut. of sacer "sacred." Said to be so called because the bone was the part of animals that was offered in sacrifices. Translation of Gk. hieron osteon. But Gk. hieros also can mean "strong."
sad: O.E. sæd "sated," from P.Gmc. *sathaz (cf. O.N. saðr, M.Du. sat, Du. zad, O.H.G. sat, Ger. satt, Goth. saþs "satiated"), from PIE *seto- (cf. L. satis "enough, sufficient," O.C.S. sytu, Lith. sotus, O.Ir. saith "satiety"), from base *sa- "satisfied" (cf. Skt. a-sinvan "insatiable"). Sense development seems to have passed through a meaning "heavy," and "weary, tired of" before emerging c.1300 as "unhappy." An alternative course would be through "steadfast, firm," and "serious" to "grave." In the main modern sense, it replaced O.E. unrot, negative of rot "cheerful, glad." Slang sense of "inferior, pathetic" is from 1899; sad sack is 1920s, popularized by World War II armed forces (specifically by cartoon character invented by Sgt. George Baker, 1942, and published in U.S. Armed Forces magazine "Yank"), probably a euphemistic shortening of common military slang phrase sad sack of shit. The verb sadden "to make sorrowful" is from 1600; earlier form was sade, from O.E. sadian.
saddle (n.): O.E. sadol "seat for a rider," from P.Gmc. *sathulaz (cf. O.N. söðull, O.Fris. sadel, Du. zadel, zaal, Ger. Sattel), from PIE *sed- "to sit" (cf. L. sedere "to sit," O.C.S. sedlo "saddle;" see sedentary). Fig. phrase in the saddle "in an active position of management" is attested from 1660. The verb is from O.E. sadolian; the meaning "to load with a burden" is first recorded 1693. Saddleback is from 1545. Saddlebag is from 1774.