selfsame
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L340291 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈsɛlfseɪm/ / /ˌsɛlfˈseɪm/ / /ˈsɛlfˌseɪm/
adj
Etymology: PIE word *swé From Middle English self sam, self same, selve same (“the very same, selfsame”) [and other forms], from self (“that specific (person mentioned), herself, himself, itself, themselves”, pronoun) (from Old English self, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”)) + sam, same (“(adjective) equal, identical; unchanging; referred to earlier, abovenamed, aforementioned; (adverb) again, repeatedly”) (from Old Norse samr (“same; agreeing, of one mind”), ultimately probably from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”)). The English word is analysable as self + same. Cognates * Danish selvsamme (“identical, selfsame”) * Old High German selbsama (“identical, selfsame”)
- Chiefly preceded by the: precisely the same; the very same; the same not only in being similar but in being identical.
“For both of you are Birds of ſelfe-ſame Feather.”
“In my ſchoole dayes, vvhen I had loſt one ſhaft [i.e., arrow], / I ſhot his fellovv of the ſelfe-ſame flight / The ſelfe-ſame vvay, vvith more aduiſed vvatch / To finde the other foorth, and by aduentring both, / I oft found both. I vrge this child-hoode proofe, / Becauſe vvhat follovves, is pure innocence.”
noun
Etymology: PIE word *swé From Middle English self sam, self same, selve same (“the very same, selfsame”) [and other forms], from self (“that specific (person mentioned), herself, himself, itself, themselves”, pronoun) (from Old English self, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”)) + sam, same (“(adjective) equal, identical; unchanging; referred to earlier, abovenamed, aforementioned; (adverb) again, repeatedly”) (from Old Norse samr (“same; agreeing, of one mind”), ultimately probably from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”)). The English word is analysable as self + same. Cognates * Danish selvsamme (“identical, selfsame”) * Old High German selbsama (“identical, selfsame”)
- Chiefly preceded by the: precisely the same person or thing.
“I preſent vvhat here is to you, vvherein you ſhall receive but the ſelfeſame by Number and by Meaſure; vvhich, before, you had by VVeight.”
“So ſtrictly is the Specific Nature preſerv'd in the Individuals of the ſame kind, vvho all equally partake of it, and are ſo very reſembling and uniform in it, that they ſeem but as ſo many Self-ſames, ſo many Reproductions of one thing, like the Image of the ſame Face repeated by a Multiplying Glaſs. Thus for Inſtance, in Men, there is the ſame common Human Nature in all of them vvithout Intenſion or Remiſſion, the ſame Intellectual Frame, the ſame thinking Principle, the ſame rational Faculties, the ſame Radical Deſires and Inclinations, the ſame Natural Affections, the ſame Springs of Paſſion, &c.”