Etymograph

English

saught

Saught comes from Old English saht ‘settlement, arrangement, agreement, terms…’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- ‘to seek, trace’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂g-1‘to seek, trace’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sahtiz1‘reproach, agreement, reconciliation’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150saht1‘settlement, arrangement, agreement, terms arranged between two parties by an umpire’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500saughte1
  5. Englishtodaysaught1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English saught

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂g-Wiktionary, English saught‘to seek, trace’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sahtizWiktionary, English saught‘reproach, agreement, reconciliation’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sahtWiktionary, English saught‘settlement, arrangement, agreement, terms arranged between two parties by an umpire’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500saughteWiktionary, English saught
  5. EnglishtodaysaughtWiktionary, English saught

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- ‘to seek, trace’

seek, sake, sucker, soc, hegemony, beseech, saya, hegemon, sagittal, presage, sagacity, 18 more

Today it means

noun Reconciliation; peace; ease.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “saught”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- / saught

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