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   The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000.
 

Appendix I

Indo-European Roots
 
ENTRY:sem-1
DEFINITION:One; also adverbially “as one,” together with.
Derivatives include simultaneous, hyphen, acolyte, and simple.
   I. Full-grade form *sem-. 1a. hendecasyllabic, hendiadys, henotheism, hyphen, from Greek heis (< nominative singular masculine *hen-s < *hem-s), one; b. Greek he- in hekaton, one hundred (? dissimilated from *hem-katon; see dek). Both a and b from Greek *hem-. 2. Suffixed form *sem-el-. simultaneous; assemble, ensemble, from Latin simul, at the same time. 3. Suffixed form *sem-golo-. single, from Latin singulus, alone, single. 4. Compound *sem-per- (*per, during, for; see per1). sempre; sempiternal, from Latin semper, always, ever (< “once for all”).
   II. O-grade form *som-. 1. bonze, sambal, samhita, samsara, sandhi, Sankhya, sannyasi, Sanskrit, from Sanskrit sam, together. 2. Suffixed form *som-o-. a. same, from Old Norse samr, same, from Germanic *samaz, same; b. homeo-, homo-; anomalous, from Greek homos, same; c. homily, from Greek homlos, crowd. 3. Suffixed form *som-alo-. homolographic, from Greek homalos, like, even, level.
   III. Lengthened o-grade form *sm-. 1. Suffixed form *sm-i-. seem, seemly, from Old Norse smr, fitting, agreeable (< “making one,” “reconciling”), from Germanic *smiz. 2. Suffixed lengthened o-grade form *sm-o-. samizdat, samovar, from Russian sam(o)-, self.
   IV. Zero-grade form *s-. 1. acolyte, anacoluthon, from Greek compound akolouthos, accompanying (-kolouthos, from o-grade of keleuthos, way, path), from ha-, a-, together. 2. Compound form *s-plo- (*-plo-, -fold; see pel-2). a. simple, from Latin simplus, simple; b. haploid, from Greek haploos, haplous, single, simple. 3. Suffixed form *sm-o-. a. some, from Old English sum, one, a certain one; b. –some1, from Old English -sum, -like. Both a and b from Germanic *sumaz. 4. Suffixed form *sm-alo-. similar; assimilate, resemble, from Latin similis, of the same kind, like. 5. Compound *s-kro-, of one growing (see ker-2). 6. Suffixed form *s-tero-. hetero-, from Greek heteros (earlier hateros), one of two, other. 7. Compound *s-plek-, “one-fold,” simple (*-plek-, -fold; see plek-). semplice, simplex, simplicity, from Latin simplex, simple. 8. Extended form *sma. hamadryad, from Greek hama, together with, at the same time. (Pokorny 2. sem- 902.)
 
 
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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