Etymology

Always derived from ON, cp. OIcel samr ‘same’ (declined wk. as sami), and further OHG samo (adj.) ‘same’, Go sama (wk., pron.) ‘the same one’ (and as a prefix in Go, e.g. sama-kuns ‘related’). OE had a number of formations on PGmc *sam-, including the adv. same (in swā same ‘in the same way’) and the correlative sam (sam … sam ‘whether … or …’) (see further samen), and so a native *sam(a) is plausible; but the absence of an equivalent adj. (or pron.) in OE texts for such a basic concept (OE uses ilca ‘same’ instead) argues strongly in favour of Norse derivation.

PGmc Ancestor

*sam-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

samr ‘same’ (wk. sami)
(ONP samr (adj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far samur, Icel samur, Norw sam, Dan samme, Sw samme

OE Cognate

cp. swā same (adv.) ‘in the same way’,  sam (conj.) (sam … sam ‘whether … or …’)

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

C1ac

Attestation

Common and widespread from the later 14c.; known earlier only from Orrm.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 157, 170, 881, etc.; Pe 1099, 1101; Cl 660; Erk 204; WA 288, 344, 356 etc.

Bibliography

MED sām(e (adj.) , OED same (adj., pron., and adv.) , HTOED , HTOED , Dance same, Bj. 218-19, de Vries sama, Mag. samur (1); sami (4), Bj-L samme, Heid. (-)sama-, Bammesberger 238, Orel *samōn, Kroonen *sama(n)-