sāg-

To seek out. Oldest form *seə₂g-, colored to *saə₂g-, contracted to *sāg-.

Derivatives include seek, ransack, and hegemony.

1. Suffixed form *sāg-yo-. seek, from Old English sǣcan, sēcan, to seek, from Germanic *sōkjan.

2. Suffixed form *sāg-ni-. soke, from Old English sōcn, attack, inquiry, right of local jurisdiction, from Germanic *sōkniz.

3. Zero-grade form *səg-.

a. sake¹, from Old English sacu, lawsuit, case, from Germanic derivative noun *sakō, “a seeking,” accusation, strife;

b.

(i) forsake, from Old English forsacan, to renounce, refuse (for-, prefix denoting exclusion or rejection; see per¹);

(ii) ramshackle, ransack, from Old Norse *saka, to seek. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic *sakan, to seek, accuse, quarrel. Both a and b from Germanic *sak-.

4. Independent suffixed form *sāg-yo-. presage, from Latin sāgīre, to perceive, “seek to know.”

5. Zero-grade form *səg-. sagacious, from Latin sagāx, of keen perception.

6. Suffixed form *sāg-eyo-. exegesis, hegemony, from Greek hēgeisthai, to lead (< “to track down”).

 

[Pokorny sāg- 876.]

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