sju (Swedish)
Where does "sju" come from?
The Swedish word 'sju' traces its roots back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥. It evolved through Proto-Germanic as *sebun and later transitioned into Old Norse as sjau, eventually becoming the Old Swedish 'siu' before reaching modern Swedish. Interestingly, some linguists suggest the original root may have been a shared 'culture word' exchanged through early direct contact between speakers of Indo-European and Semitic languages.
Full etymology tree
- sju (Swedish), 'seven'
- inherited siu (Old Swedish), 'seven'
- inherited sjau (Old Norse), 'seven'
- inherited *sebun (Proto-Germanic), 'seven'
- inherited *sebunt (Proto-Germanic)
- inherited *sepḿ̥t (Pre-Germanic)
- derived *septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'seven'
- learned borrowing *šabʕ- (Proto-Semitic), 'seven'
- inherited *sṗɣ (Proto-Afroasiatic)
- learned borrowing *šabʕ- (Proto-Semitic), 'seven'
- derived *septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'seven'
- influence *newun (Proto-Germanic), 'nine'
- influence *tehun (Proto-Germanic), 'ten'
- inherited *sepḿ̥t (Pre-Germanic)
- inherited *sebunt (Proto-Germanic)
- inherited *sebun (Proto-Germanic), 'seven'
- inherited sjau (Old Norse), 'seven'
- inherited siu (Old Swedish), 'seven'
Ancestors
- siu (Old Swedish)
- sjau (Old Norse)
- *sebun (Proto-Germanic)
- *septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European)
Descendants and derived words
- sjujäkla (Swedish)
- som sju svåra år (Swedish)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris