sehs (Proto-West Germanic)
Where does "sehs" come from?
The Proto-West Germanic word 'sehs' meaning 'six' descends from the Proto-Germanic form '*sehs'[1]. This in turn traces back to the Proto-Indo-European reconstruction '*swéḱs'[2]. Linguists note that the initial consonant evolved into '*séḱs' in the Germanic, Latin, and Sanskrit branches through the substitution of the original sound, while other branches retained variations of the initial '*swéḱs' form[2][3].
Open questions
- Some scholars propose an original form of '*wéḱs' where the initial s sound was added secondarily as an s-mobile. [3]
Full etymology tree
- *sehs (Proto-West Germanic), 'six'
- inherited *sehs (Proto-Germanic), 'six'
- derived *swehs (Proto-Germanic)
- inherited *swéḱs (Proto-Indo-European), 'six'
- derived *swehs (Proto-Germanic)
- inherited *sehs (Proto-Germanic), 'six'
Ancestors
- *sehs (Proto-Germanic)
Descendants and derived words
- six (Old English)
- seox (Old English)
- sex (Old English)
- siex (Old English)
- syx (Old English)
- sex (Old Frisian)
- sehs (Old High German)
- sehs (Old Saxon)
Sources
- sehs (Proto-West Germanic) - Wiktionary
- sehs (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
- swéḱs (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris