entry
sun
/sʌn/The star that gives Earth light and warmth
From Proto-Germanic sun (the sun).
from PIE *s(u)wen- , an alternative form of root *sawel- "the sun." Old English sunne was fem. (as generally in...
from Proto-Germanic *sunno (source also of Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old High German sunna , Middle Dutch sonne , Dutch zon...
+1 more sourcefrom Old English sunne "the sun,"
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from PIE *s(u)wen- , an alternative form of root *sawel- "the sun." Old English sunne was fem. (as generally in...
from Proto-Germanic *sunno (source also of Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old High German sunna , Middle Dutch sonne , Dutch zon...
+1 more sourcefrom Old English sunne "the sun,"
+1 more sourceBefore it became the plainest little word in the sky, sun belonged to a family of Germanic words that included Old Norse and Old High German forms such as sunna. Old English treated sunne as feminine, so English speakers once referred to the sun with “she”; only around the sixteenth century did “he” become standard, without necessarily turning the star into a person. The word also has a more distant, disputed-looking family resemblance to Greek hēlios, behind heliacal, and Latin sōl, behind solar and solstice; the supplied chains securely preserve the Germanic route but record only the reconstructed form *s(u) for its deeper ancestor. By about 1200, “under the sun” already meant “anywhere in the world,” a phrase that makes the planet feel like one enormous patch of illuminated ground. And when sailors said the sun was “over the foreyard,” they meant noon—proof that even the day’s most obvious object once needed a nautical appointment.
The Story
Before it became the plainest little word in the sky, sun belonged to a family of Germanic words that included Old Norse and Old High German forms such as sunna. Old English treated sunne as feminine, so English speakers once referred to the sun with “she”; only around the sixteenth century did “he” become standard, without necessarily turning the star into a person. The word also has a more distant, disputed-looking family resemblance to Greek hēlios, behind heliacal, and Latin sōl, behind solar and solstice; the supplied chains securely preserve the Germanic route but record only the reconstructed form *s(u) for its deeper ancestor. By about 1200, “under the sun” already meant “anywhere in the world,” a phrase that makes the planet feel like one enormous patch of illuminated ground. And when sailors said the sun was “over the foreyard,” they meant noon—proof that even the day’s most obvious object once needed a nautical appointment.
Modern Usage
A humorous expression for sunlight making a computer screen difficult to see, or for the sun’s oppressive heat
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries describing sunlight interfering with monitor visibility and the sun’s intense heat
Kin & Kindred
From 'sun'·the sun, daylight, sunlight
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary