saga (French)
Where does "saga" come from?
The word 'saga' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European root *sekʷ-, which originally meant 'to follow' or 'to say.' It evolved through Proto-Germanic into the Old Norse verb 'segja,' meaning 'to tell' or 'declare.' Over time, this term shifted from a simple verb of speaking into the noun we use today to describe a long, epic story.
Full etymology tree
- saga (French), 'saga'
- borrowed saga (Old Norse), 'story, history, legend, saga'
- derived segja (Old Norse), 'to say, tell, declare'
- inherited *sagjaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to say'
- derived *sokʷ-éye-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *sekʷ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to follow'
- derived *sokʷ-h₁-yé-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *sekʷ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to follow'
- derived *sokʷ-éye-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *sagjaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to say'
- derived segja (Old Norse), 'to say, tell, declare'
- borrowed saga (Old Norse), 'story, history, legend, saga'
Ancestors
- segja (Old Norse)
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris