syll

• sylle

From Proto-Germanic *sulī (“bar, sill”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”).

• IPA^(key): /syll/, [syɫ]

syll f

1. a beam that serves as a foundation or support, basis, sill
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "The Deposition of St. Cuthbert, Bishop"

     Þā wolde se hālga sum hūs timbrian to his nīedbrȳċum, mid his ġebrōðra fultume. Þā bæd hē hīe ānre sylle þæt hē meahte þæt hūs on þā sǣhealfe mid þǣre underleċġan. Þā ġebrōðra him behēton þæt hīe woldon þæt trēow þonne hīe eft cōmon him ġebringan. Þā cōmon hīe swā swā hīe cwǣdon, and wurdon swā þēah þæs trēowes unġemyndiġe, ac God his wæs ġemyndiġ, and him þā sylle self āsende mid þām sǣlīcum flōde.

     Then the saint decided to build a house for himself, with his brothers' help. So he asked them for a sill to support the house on the side facing the sea. The brothers went out and promised him that they would bring him the tree when they came back. Then they did come back, just like they said they would, but they had forgotten about the tree. But God remembered, and sent him a sill himself with a flood from the sea.

2. (figurative) a base, support, foundation
   • Ðonne hī ne bēoþ mid nānre sylle underscotene ðæs godcundlīcan mægenes

     Then they are with no foundation supportive of the divine power

Strong i-stem:

• Middle English: sylle, sülle, selle, sille
  • English: sill
  • Scots: sil, sill
• → Latin: silla

From Proto-Germanic *swellijō, whence also English sill.^[1] Doublet of svill: In Proto-Norse vi > y through u-mutation, giving an irregular paradigm sg. syll, pl. svillar (sic). Leveling in both directions then led to paradigm split.^[2]

syll f

1. sill

   Synonym: bjalki

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), “syll”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive

From Old Swedish syl, from Middle Low German sul, sülle, sille.

• IPA^(key): /sʏl/, [sʏlː]

• Audio:

  (file)

syll c

1. a railroad tie, railway sleeper

   Synonym: sliper

• syll in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker