Etymograph

English

sinew

Sinew comes from Middle English synwe ‘tendon’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- ‘to twist threads, spin, weave’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)neh₁-1‘to twist threads, spin, weave’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snéh₁wr̥2‘sinew, tendon’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sinwō2‘cord, tendon, sinew’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sinu2reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150sinu2‘tendon, sinew’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500synwe2‘tendon’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592sinew2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English sinew
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “And now to London with Triumphant march, / There…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)neh₁-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥‘to twist threads, spin, weave’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snéh₁wr̥Wiktionary, English sinew‘sinew, tendon’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sinwōWiktionary, English sinew‘cord, tendon, sinew’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sinuWiktionary, English sinewreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150sinuWiktionary, English sinew‘tendon, sinew’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500synweWiktionary, English sinew‘tendon’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592sinewWiktionary, English sinew. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “And now to London with Triumphant march, / There…”

The story

The word is cognate with sinnow (‘sinew’), Scots senon, sinnon, Saterland Frisian Siene (‘sinew’), West Frisian senuw, sine (‘sinew; nerve’), Dutch zeen (‘sinew’), Dutch zenuw (‘nerve’), German Sehne (‘tendon, sinew; cord’), Icelandic sin (‘tendon’), Danish sene (‘tendon, sinew’), Swedish sena (‘sinew’), Avestan 𐬯𐬥𐬁𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭 (snāuuar, “tendon, sinew”), Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “tendon; nerve; cord”), Latin nervus (‘tendon, sinew; nerve’), Sanskrit स्नावन् (snāván, “sinew, tendon; muscle”), Tocharian B ṣñor (‘sinew’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- ‘to twist threads, spin, weave’

nerve, needle, nous, neuron, adder, nematode, nematic, 8 more

through Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ ‘sinew, tendon’

nervous

Today it means

noun A cord or tendon of the body.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sinew”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥. 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 *(s)neh₁- / sinew

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