Online Etymology Dictionary

sarcoidosis (n.): 1936, from sarcoid + -osis. Sarcoid (1841) is from sarco- + -oid.
sarcoma (n.): 1650s, "fleshy excrescence," Medical Latin, from Greek sarkoma "fleshy substance" (Galen), from sarkoun "to produce flesh, grow fleshy," from sarx (genitive sarkos) "flesh" (see sarcasm) + -oma. Meaning "harmful tumor of the connective tissue" first recorded 1804.
sarcophagi (n.): plural of sarcophagus (q.v.).
sarcophagus (n.): "stone coffin," c.1600, from Latin sarcophagus, from Greek sarkophagos "limestone used for coffins," literally "flesh-eating," in reference to the supposed action of this type of limestone (quarried near Assos in Troas) in quickly decomposing the body, from sarx (genitive sarkos) "flesh" (see sarcasm) + phagein "to eat" (see -phagous).

The stone sense was the earliest in English; meaning "stone coffin, often with inscriptions or decorative carvings" is recorded from 1705. The Latin word, shortened in Vulgar Latin to *sarcus, is the source of French cercueil, German Sarg "coffin," Dutch zerk "tombstone."
sardine (n.): early 15c., from Latin sardina, from Greek sardine, sardinos, often said to be from Sardo "Sardinia" (see Sardinia), the Mediterranean island, near which the fish were probably caught and from which they were exported. But cf. Klein: "It is hardly probable that the Greeks would have obtained fish from so far as Sardinia at a time relatively so early as that of Aristotle, from whom Athenaios quotes a passage in which the fish sardinos is mentioned." Colloquial phrase packed like sardines (in a tin) is recorded from 1911.
Sardinia: large island adjacent to Corsica, from Latin, from Greek Sardo. The oblique cases are sometimes Sardonos, etc., as if from *Sardon.
sardonic (adj.): 1630s, from French sardonique (16c.), from Latin sardonius (but as if from Latin *sardonicus) in Sardonius risus, loan-translation of Greek sardonios (gelos) "of bitter or scornful (laughter)," altered from Homeric sardanios (of uncertain origin) by influence of Sardonios "Sardinian," because the Greeks believed that eating a certain plant they called sardonion (literally "plant from Sardinia," see Sardinia) caused facial convulsions resembling those of sardonic laughter, usually followed by death. For nuances of usage, see humor. Related: Sardonically.
sargasso (n.): "seaweed," 1590s, from Portuguese sargasso "seaweed," perhaps from sarga, a type of grape (on this theory, the sea plant was so called from its berry-like air sacs), or from Latin sargus, a kind of fish found in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, from Greek sargos.
sarge (n.): representing the pronunciation of the familiar shortening of sergeant, by 1867.
sari (n.): "long, wrapping garment worn by Hindu women," 1785, from Hindi sari, from Prakrit sadi, from Sanskrit sati "garment, petticoat."
sarin (n.): type of odorless nerve gas, 1951, from German, but the name is of unknown origin. Other phosphorous compounds known in Germany by the end of World War II are called tabun and soman.
sark (n.): "shirt," late Old English serc, surviving as a Scottish and northern dialect word, from Old Norse serkr, cognate with Old English serk (see berserk). Gordon lists it as a loan-word from Latin sarcia; other sources are silent on the point. Cf. also Lithuanian sarkas "shirt," Old Church Slavonic sraka "tunic," Russian soročka, Finnish sarkki "shirt," which perhaps are from Germanic.
sarong (n.): "skirt-like garment, the Malay national garment," 1834, from Malay sarung "sheath, covering."
SARS (n.): by 2003, acronym from severe acute respiratory syndrome.
sarsaparilla (n.): tropical American plant, 1570s, from Spanish zarzaparrilla, from zarza "bramble" (from Arabic sharas "thorny plant" or Basque sartzia "bramble") + parrilla, diminutive of parra "vine," of unknown origin. In 16c.-17c. the dried roots were held to be efficient in treatment of syphilis.
sarsen (n.): "large sandstone boulder," 1640s, prop. sarsen stone, i.e. Saracen stone, from Saracen in the old sense of "pagan, heathen."
sartorial (adj.): "pertaining to a tailor," 1823, from Modern Latin sartorius, from Late Latin sartor "tailor," literally "patcher, mender," from Latin sart-, past participle stem of sarcire "to patch, mend." Sartorius as the name of the long leg muscle is because it is used in crossing the legs to bring them into the position needed to sit like a tailor. Related: Sartorially.
sash (n.1): "strip of cloth," 1590s, "strip of cloth twisted into a turban," from Arabic shash "muslin cloth." Meaning "strip of cloth worn about the waist or over the shoulder" first recorded 1680s.
sash (n.2): "window frame," 1680s, sashes, from French châssis "frame" of a window or door (see chassis). French word taken as a plural and -s trimmed off by 1704.
sashay (v.): 1836, mangled Anglicization of French chassé "gliding step" (in square dancing), literally "chased," past participle of chasser "to chase," from Old French chacier "to hunt," from Vulgar Latin *captiare (see capable, and cf. chase, catch). Related: Sashayed; sashaying. The noun is attested from 1900.
sashimi (n.): "thin slices of raw fish," 1880, from Japanese, from sashi "pierce" + mi "flesh."
Saskatchewan: Canadian province, named for the river running through it, from Cree kis-si-ska-tches-wani-sipi "rapid flowing river."
sasquatch (n.): 1929, from Halkomelem (Salish), a native language of the Pacific Northwest, sæsq'ec, one of a race of huge, hairy man-monsters supposed to inhabit the Pacific northwest woods in American Indian lore and also known as bigfoot.
sass (n.): "impudence," 1835, back-formation from sassy. The verb is first recorded 1856. Related: Sassed; sassing.
sassafras (n.): "small flowering tree of North America, 1570s, from Spanish sasafras, perhaps an adaptation of saxifraga "saxifrage," from Late Latin saxifragia, variant of saxifraga (see saxifrage). But the connection of the plants is difficult to explain, and the word perhaps represents a lost Native American name that sounded like Spanish saxifraga and was altered to conform to it. Tree supposedly discovered by the Spanish in 1528.
Sassanid: dynasty that ruled the Persian Empire 211-651 C.E., 1776, from Medieval Latin Sassanidæ (plural), from Sasan, grandfather of Ardashir I, who founded the dynasty.
Sassenach (n.): Gaelic for "English person," 1771, Sassenaugh, literally "Saxon," from Latin Saxones, from a Germanic source (cf. Old English Seaxe "the Saxons"). The modern form of the word was established c.1814 by Sir Walter Scott, from Scottish Sasunnoch, Irish Sasanach, Welsh Seisnig.
sassy (adj.): 1833, American English, alteration of saucy. Related: Sassily; sassiness.
SAT (n.): 1961, initialism for Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Satan (n.): proper name of the supreme evil spirit in Christianity, Old English Satan, from Late Latin Satan (in Vulgate in Old Testament only), from Greek Satanas, from Hebrew satan "adversary, one who plots against another," from satan "to show enmity to, oppose, plot against," from root s-t-n "one who opposes, obstructs, or acts as an adversary." In Septuagint (Greek) usually translated as diabolos "slanderer," literally "one who throws (something) across" the path of another (see devil (n.)), though epiboulos "plotter" is used once.
In biblical sources the Hebrew term the satan describes an adversarial role. It is not the name of a particular character. Although Hebrew storytellers as early as the sixth century B.C.E. occasionally introduced a supernatural character whom they called the satan, what they meant was any one of the angels sent by God for the specific purpose of blocking or obstructing human activity. [Elaine Pagels, "The Origin of Satan," 1995]
Satanist is attested from 1550s, applied by their enemies to Protestant sects.
satanic (adj.): 1667, "pertaining to Satan" (in "Paradise Lost"), from Satan + -ic. Meaning "diabolical" is from 1793.
Satanism (n.): 1560s, "satanic disposition," from satan + -ism. Meaning "worship of Satan" dates from 1896, with reference to France, where it was said to be active at that time.
satay (n.): 1934, from Malay or Javanese satai.
satchel (n.): "small bag," mid-14c., from Old French sachel, from Late Latin saccellum "money bag, purse," diminutive of Latin sacculus, diminutive of saccus "bag" (see sack (n.1)).
sate (v.): "to satisfy, surfeit," c.1600, alteration (by influence of Latin satiare "satiate") of Middle English saden "become satiated," from Old English sadian "to satiate," from West Germanic *sathojanan, from the same root as sad (q.v.). Related: Sated; sating.
sateen (n.): "glossy cloth resembling satin," 1878, variant of satin (q.v.), perhaps influenced by velveteen (q.v.), where the ending is a variant of -ine.
satellite (n.): 1540s, "follower or attendant of a superior person," from Middle French satellite (14c.), from Latin satellitem (nominative satelles) "attendant," perhaps from Etruscan satnal (Klein), or a compound of roots *satro- "full, enough" + *leit- "to go" (Tucker); cf. English follow, which is constructed of similar roots.

Meaning "planet that revolves about a larger one" first attested 1660s, in reference to the moons of Jupiter, from Latin satellites, which was used in this sense 1610s by German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). Galileo, who had discovered them, called them Sidera Medicæa in honor of the Medici family. Meaning "man-made machinery orbiting the Earth" first recorded 1936 as theory, 1957 as fact. Meaning "country dependent and subservient to another" is recorded from 1800.
satiable (adj.): 1900; see satiate + -able.
satiate (v.): mid-15c., from Latin satiatus, past participle of satiare "fill full, satisfy," from satis "enough," from PIE root *sa- "to satisfy" (cf. Gothic saþs "satiated," Old English sæd "satisfied;" see sad). Related: Satiated; satiating.
satiation (n.): 1630s, noun of action from satiate (v.).
satiety (n.): 1530s, from French satiété (12c.), from Latin satietatem "abundance," from satis "enough," from PIE root *sa- "to satisfy" (see sad).
satin (n.): mid-14c., from Old French satin (14c.), perhaps from Arabic (atlas) zaytuni, literally "(satin) from Zaitun," a Chinese city, perhaps modern Tsinkiang in Fukien province, southern China, which was a port in the Middle Ages. The form of the word perhaps influenced in French by Latin seta "silk." OED finds the Arabic connection etymologically untenable and takes the French word straight from Latin.
satire (n.): late 14c., "work intended to ridicule vice or folly," from Latin satira "satire, poetic medley," earlier satura, in lanx satura "mixed dish, dish filled with various kinds of fruit," literally "full dish," from fem. of satur "sated" (see saturate). First applied in literary sense to a collection of poems on a variety of subjects by Ennius. In classical Latin, a poem which assailed the prevailing vices, one after another. Altered in Latin by influence of Greek satyr, on mistaken notion that the form is related to the Greek satyr drama (see satyr).
Satire, n. An obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the author's enemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein we are dolefully deficient, the humor that we mistake for it, like all humor, being tolerant and sympathetic. Moreover, although Americans are 'endowed by their Creator' with abundant vice and folly, it is not generally known that these are reprehensible qualities, wherefore the satirist is popularly regarded as a sour-spirited knave, and his every victim's outcry for codefendants evokes a national assent. [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]

Proper satire is distinguished, by the generality of the reflections, from a lampoon which is aimed against a particular person, but they are too frequently confounded. [Johnson]

[I]n whatever department of human expression, wherever there is objective truth there is satire [Wyndham Lewis, "Rude Assignment," 1950]
For nuances of usage, see humor (n.).
satiric (adj.): c.1500, from French satirique, from Late Latin satiricus, from satira (see satire). Earlier (late 14c.) as a noun meaning "a writer of satires."
satirical (adj.): 1520s, from Late Latin satiricus, from Latin satira "satire, poetic medley" (see satire).
satirist (n.): 1580s; see satire + -ist.
satirize (v.): c.1600, from French satiriser (see satire). Related: Satirized; satirizing.
satisfaction (n.): c.1300, "performance of an act set forth by a priest or other Church authority to atone for sin," from Latin satisfactionem (nominative satisfactio) "a satisfying of a creditor," from satisfacere (see satisfy). Sense of "contentment" first recorded late 14c.; not common before 16c.
satisfactory (adj.): 1540s, from Late Latin satisfactorius, from Latin satisfactus, past participle of satisfacere (see satisfy). Related: Satisfactorily.
satisfice (v.): 1560s, satisfy, altered by influence of its Latin root satisfacere. A Northern English colloquial word; modern use from c.1956 may be an independent formation. Related: Satisficed; satisficing.