adj., adv.
‘seemly, fair, excellent; becomingly, fairly'
(Modern English seem)Always derived from the ON adj. represented by OIcel sœmr ‘becoming, fit’, with which cp. OS sōmi ‘suitable’, MHG süeme ‘pleasant, charming’, all < PGmc *sōmi-. Although given the rarity of both ME seme and OIcel sœmr, it is also possible that sem- in adj./adv. usage first entered English as part of a derived form like semly (adj.) or semly (adv.), both of which are much more frequent in ME and whose ON cognates are commonplace in OIcel prose (see ONP). Other than the wk. 1 vb. (ge)sēman ‘to smooth over, put right, settle, reconcile, pacify’, the nearest related forms in OE lack i-mutation, viz. the n. sōm ‘arbitration, agreement, reconciliation’ and adj. gesōm ‘unanimous, peaceable, friendly’, therefore the derivational type in ME is indicative of loan from ON. Its sense is also closer to the meanings recorded for OIcel sœmr than those of OE gesōm.
PGmc Ancestor
*sōmi-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
sœmr ‘becoming, fit’
(ONP sǿmr (adj.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Icel sæmur, Norw sømre, Sw dial sym
OE Cognate
cp. gesōm ‘unanimous, peaceable, friendly’
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
C1ac
(C3)
The simplex adj. is infrequent outside the Gaw MS (MED cites only a1325 SLeg.Becket (Corp-C 145)).
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 1085; Pe 190, 1115; Cl 549, 1810