sea

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See also: Sea, SEA, and seâ

English[edit]

The sea.

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English see, from Old English sǣ (“sea, lake”), from Proto-Germanic *saiwiz (compare West Frisian see, Dutch zee, German See, Norwegian Bokmål sjø, Swedish sjö), probably either from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ey-wo- (“to be fierce, afflict”) (compare Latin saevus (“wild, fierce”), Tocharian saiwe (“itch”), Latvian sievs, sīvs (“sharp, biting”); more at sore)[1] or derived from *sīhwaną (“to percolate, filter”), in which case *saiwiz is from earlier *saigwiz, Pre-Germanic *soykʷ-ís.[2]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

sea (plural seas)

  1. A large body of salt water.
    Synonym: ogin (UK, nautical and navy)
    • 1780, William Cowper, “Light Shining out of Darkneſs”, in Twenty-ſix Letters on Religious Subjects […] To which are added Hymns […] ‎[1], fourth edition, page 252:
      God moves in a myſterious way, / His wonders to perform; / He plants his footſteps in the ſea, / And rides upon the ſtorm.
    1. The ocean; the continuous body of salt water covering a majority of the Earth's surface.
      • 1611, King James Bible, Leviticus 11:9
        These shal ye eat, of all that are in the waters: whatsoeuer hath finnes and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the riuers, them shall ye eate.
      • 1719, Nicholas Rowe, “Book V”, in Lucan's Pharsalia: Translated into English Verse, Dublin: James Carson, page 183:
        At length the universal Wreck appear'd,/ To Cæsar's self, ev'n worthy to be fear'd./ Why all these Pains, this Toil of Fate (he cries)/ This Labour of the Seas, and Earth, and Skies?/ All Nature, and the Gods at once alarm'd,/ Against my little Boat and me are arm'd.
      • 1833, William Hazlitt, “Notes of a Journey Through France and Italy”, in Greenbank's Periodical Library, volume I, page 173:
        There is something in being near the sea, like the confines of eternity. It is a new element, a pure abstraction. The mind loves to hover on that which is endless, and forever the same. People wonder at a steam-boat, the invention of man, managed by man, that makes its liquid path like an iron railway through the sea—I wonder at the sea itself, that vast Leviathan, rolled round the earth, smiling in its sleep, waked into fury, fathomless, boundless, a huge world of water-drops.—Whence is it, whither goes it, is it of eternity, or of nothing?
      • 1922 March, J. S. Fletcher, “The Mystery of Ravensdene Court”, in Everybody's Magazine, volume XLVI, number 3, page 162:
        As we stood there watching, the long yellow light on the eastern horizon suddenly changed in color—first to a roseate flush, then to a warm crimson; the scenes round us, sky, sea, and land, brightened as if by magic.
    2. A body of salt water smaller than an ocean, generally forming part of, or connecting with, an ocean or a larger sea.
      The Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean Sea, the Sea of Crete, etc.
  2. A lake, especially if large or if salty or brackish.
    The Caspian Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Salton Sea, etc.
  3. The swell of the sea; a single wave; billow.
    • 1792, chapter 2, in A Voyage to the South Sea, London: Nicol, page 14:
      One sea broke away the spare yards and spars out of the starboard main chains. Another heavy sea broke into the ship and stove all the boats. Several casks of bear, that had been lashed upon deck, were broke loose and washed overboard, and it was not without great difficulty and risk that we were able to secure the boats from being washed away entirely.
    • 1952, Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea:
      There was a small sea rising with the wind coming up from the east and at noon the old man's left hand was uncramped.
    • 2020 June 8, National Weather Service Boston, 2:38 PM EDT marine forecast
      High pressure will maintain light winds and flat seas through Tue night. ... Potential for briefly choppy 3 ft seas near South Coast...
  4. (attributive, in combination) Living or used in or on the sea; of, near, or like the sea.
    Seaman, sea gauge, sea monster, sea horse, sea level, seaworthy, seaport, seaboard, etc.
  5. (figuratively) Anything resembling the vastness or turbulence of the sea.
    • 1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke‎[2], London: Nicholas Ling:
      To be, or not to be, that is the question,/ Whether tis nobler in the minde to suffer/ The slings and arrowes of outragious fortune,/ Or to take Armes against a sea of troubles,/ And by opposing, end them, to die to sleepe/ No more, and by a sleepe, to say we end/ The hart-ake, and the thousand naturall shocks/ That flesh is heire to.
    • 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times‎[3]:
      In the last two decades, North Korea has on various occasions conducted highly provocative missile and nuclear tests and promised to turn Seoul into a sea of fire.
  6. (physics) A constant flux of gluons splitting into quarks, which annihilate to produce further gluons.
  7. (planetology) A large, dark plain of rock; a mare.
    The Apollo 11 mission landed in the Sea of Tranquility.
  8. (planetology) A very large lake of liquid hydrocarbon.

Derived terms[edit]

Names of seas
Terms derived from sea (other)

Translations[edit]

body of water

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Vladimir Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, s.v. "saiwiz" (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2003), 314.
  2. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Cimbrian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German sē, from Old High German sēo, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwi, from Proto-Germanic *saiwiz (“sea, ocean”). Cognate with German See, English sea.

Noun[edit]

sea m

  1. (Luserna) lake

References[edit]

  • “sea” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Estonian[edit]

Noun[edit]

sea

  1. genitive singular of siga

Irish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

is + ea (literally, "it is")

Pronunciation[edit]

Adverb[edit]

sea

  1. yes (to copula questions)
  2. right, well (topic introducer)

Usage notes[edit]

This is a contraction of an affirmative response to a question, and is found in response to questions where the key verb is is or a present tense form thereof:

Q: An féidir leat cuidiú liom? — "Can you help me?" (literally, "Possible for you to help me?")
A: Sea. — "Yes."

Informally it may also be found as the answer to a question with a main verb, though this is considered incorrect. The standard response to such a question is to repeat the verb:

Q: Ar chuala tú mé? — "Did you hear me?"
A: Chuala. — "Yes" (literally, "Heard") or informally Sea.

Antonyms[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old English sǣ.

Noun[edit]

sea

  1. Alternative form of see (“sea”)

Descendants[edit]

  • English: sea

Mòcheno[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German sē, from Old High German sēo, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwi, from Proto-Germanic *saiwiz (“sea, ocean”). Cognate with German See, English sea.

Noun[edit]

sea m

  1. lake

References[edit]

Old Irish[edit]

Determiner[edit]

sea

  1. Alternative spelling of so

Old Swedish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse sjá, from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną.

Verb[edit]

sēa

  1. to see

Conjugation[edit]

Conjugation of sēa (strong)
present past
infinitive sēa —
participle sēandi, sēande sēþer
active voice indicative subjunctive imperative indicative subjunctive
iæk sēr sē — sā sāghi, sāghe
þū sēr sē sē sāt sāghi, sāghe
han sēr sē — sā sāghi, sāghe
vīr sēum, sēom sēum, sēom sēum, sēom sāghum, sāghom sāghum, sāghom
īr sēn sēn sēn sāghin sāghin
þēr sēa sēn — sāghu, -o sāghin
mediopassive voice indicative subjunctive imperative indicative subjunctive
iæk sēs sēs — sās sāghis, sāghes
þū sēs sēs — sāts sāghis, sāghes
han sēs sēs — sās sāghis, sāghes
vīr sēums, -oms sēums, sēoms — sāghums, sāghoms sāghums, sāghoms
īr sēns sēns — sāghins sāghins
þēr sēas sēns — sāghus, sāghos sāghins

Descendants[edit]

Spanish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

sea

  1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of ser.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of ser.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of ser.
  4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of ser.

See also[edit]

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