Etymograph

English

soul

Soul comes from Old English sāwol ‘soul’, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō ‘soul, life force’, of uncertain origin.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*saiwalō1‘soul, life force’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*saiwalu1‘soul’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sāwol1‘soul’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500soule1‘the human soul’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1725soul1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English soul
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1725, Edward Young, Satire III. To the Right Honourable Mr. Dodington.: “That he vvants Algebra he muſt confeſs. / But…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*saiwalōWiktionary, English soul‘soul, life force’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*saiwaluWiktionary, English soul‘soul’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sāwolWiktionary, English soul‘soul’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500souleWiktionary, English soul‘the human soul’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1725soulWiktionary, English soul. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1725, Edward Young, Satire III. To the Right Honourable Mr. Dodington.: “That he vvants Algebra he muſt confeſs. / But…”

The story

From Middle English soule, sowle, saule, sawle, from Old English sāwol (‘soul, life, spirit, being’), from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō (‘soul’), of an uncertain ultimate origin (see there for further information).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- ‘to filter’

  • sigh ← sighen ← sighte ← sīcan ← *sīkan
  • sie ← sien ← sīgan ← *sīgan ← *sīganą
  • sicker ← *sikeren ← sicerian ← *sikarōn ← *sikarōną
  • sitch ← sich ← sīċ ← *sīk ← *sīką
  • sike ← siken ← sīcan ← *sīkan
  • seel ← *sīgan ← *sīganą

through Proto-Germanic *saiwiz ‘sea, ocean’

  • sea ← see ← sǣ ← *saiwi

3 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, often believed to live on after the person's death.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “soul”. 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-Germanic *saiwalō / soul