Etymograph

English

sell

Sell comes from Middle English sellen ‘to gift’, from Proto-West Germanic *salljan ‘to hand over’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *selh₁- ‘to take’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*selh₁-1‘to take’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*saljaną1‘to offer’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*salljan1‘to hand over’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sellan1‘give’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sellen1‘to gift’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1605sell1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sell
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1605, Ben[jamin] Jonson: “Then weaues Other crosse-plots New tricks for safety, are…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*selh₁-Wiktionary, English sell‘to take’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*saljanąWiktionary, English sell‘to offer’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*salljanWiktionary, English sell‘to hand over’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sellanWiktionary, English sell‘give’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sellenWiktionary, English sell‘to gift’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1605sellWiktionary, English sell. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1605, Ben[jamin] Jonson: “Then weaues Other crosse-plots New tricks for safety, are…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with sell, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *selh₁- ‘to take’

  • council ← counseil ← conseil ← cōnsilium ← cōnsulō
  • sale ← sala ← sala ← *salō
  • consult ← consulter ← cōnsultum ← cōnsultus ← cōnsulō
  • counsel ← counseilen ← conseiller ← cōnsilior ← cōnsilium
  • consul
  • consigliere ← consiglio ← cōnsilium ← cōnsulō ← *sulo

3 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sell”. 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 *selh₁- / sell