seel

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• /siːl/
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• rhymes with -iːl
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• homophone: seal
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• CMU ARPABET: S IY1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English sel, sele, from Old English *sǣle (“good, fortunate, happy”) (attested in Old English unsǣle (“evil, wicked”)), from Proto-Germanic *sēliz (“good, happy”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- (“to calm, quiet, be favourable”). Cognate with Danish sæl (“blissful”), Dutch zalig (“blissful”), Gothic 𐍃𐌴𐌻𐍃 (sēls, “good, kind, useful”), Icelandic sæll (“blissful”), Latin sōlor (“to comfort, console”), Swedish säll (“blissful”).

From Middle English sele, sel, from Old English sǣl (“time, occasion, a fit time, season, opportunity, the definite time at which an event should take place, time as in bad or good times, circumstances, condition, position, happiness, joy, good fortune, good time, prosperity”), from Proto-Germanic *sēliz (“luck, joy”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- (“to calm, quiet, be favourable”). Cognate with Icelandic sæla (“bliss”), Dutch zalig (“blissful, blessed”). More at silly.

Ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *sīgan (“to drop”). Compare Low German sielen (“to lead off water”), French siller (“to run ahead, to make headway”), and English sile (transitive verb).

From Middle English silen, from Old French siller, ciller (“to sew up the eyelids of, hoodwink, wink”), from cil (“eyelid”), from Latin cilium (“eyelid, eyelash”).

4 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• French: ciller — To sew together the eyelids of a young hawk
• Polish: zszywać oczy — To sew together the eyelids of a young hawk
• Polish: zszyć oczy — To sew together the eyelids of a young hawk
• Russian: завя́зывать глаза́ (zavjázyvatʹ) — To sew together the eyelids of a young hawk