sebun (Proto-Germanic)

Where does "sebun" come from?

The Proto-Germanic word 'sebun' meaning 'seven'[1] descends from the earlier form '*sebunt'[1]. This developed from Pre-Germanic '*sepḿ̥t'[1], which was a metathetic alteration of the Proto-Indo-European '*septḿ̥'[1]. The added final sound was likely influenced by the numerals for 'nine' and 'ten'[1].

Open questions

• The Proto-Indo-European term may be a borrowing from Proto-Semitic or related to other ancient language families as a culture word. [2]

Full etymology tree

• *sebun (Proto-Germanic), 'seven'
  • derived *sebunt (Proto-Germanic)
    • inherited *sepḿ̥t (Pre-Germanic)
      • derived *septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'seven'
        • borrowed *šabʕ- (Proto-Semitic), 'seven'
          • inherited *sṗɣ (Proto-Afroasiatic)
      • influenced by *newun (Proto-Germanic), 'nine'
      • influenced by *tehun (Proto-Germanic), 'ten'

Ancestors

• *septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European)

Descendants and derived words

• 𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌽 (Gothic)
• sjau (Old Norse)
• *sebunstirniją (Proto-Germanic)

Related words

• *ahtōu (Proto-Germanic)

Sources

1. sebun (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
2. septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
3. šabʕ- (Proto-Semitic) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris