Where does “Sawyer” come from?

Sawyer comes from Middle English sawior, a person who operates a saw, ultimately derived from the verb saw.

Sawyer (English): for someone who made a living from sawing wood

Definitions

  1. for someone who made a living from sawing wood

Ancestry of “Sawyer”, step by step

Sawyer traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Swedish seger

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Swedishsegervictory
2Old Norsesigrvictory
3Proto-Germanicsegazvictory, triumph
4Proto-Indo-Europeanséǵʰospower, strength
5Proto-Indo-Europeanseǵʰ-to hold; to overpower

via Serbo-Croatian zagar

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Serbo-Croatianzagarhound
2Ottoman Turkishزغرhound, hunting dog

via Middle English sawyer

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishsawyer—

Words derived from “Sawyer”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European seǵʰ- →Every word from Proto-Indo-European séǵʰos →Every word from Proto-Germanic segaz →