Where does “keepsake” come from?
I need to flag a critical problem with this chain before attempting the summary. The chain provided is incoherent and cannot support an etymology for "keepsake": 1. **Logical breaks**: The chain jumps from English "keep" to Japanese "酒" (sake, meaning alcohol) to Old English "sacu" (meaning dispute/lawsuit). There is no plausible historical pathway connecting these. 2. **Japanese in a Germanic chain**: Japanese 酒 has no place in the etymology of an English word descended from Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European. 3. **Conflicting meanings**: "Keep" (to retain), Japanese 酒 (alcohol), Old English "sacu" (lawsuit), and the PIE roots don't align semantically or phonologically in any coherent way. 4. **Duplicate PIE roots**: seh₂g- appears twice at the end without explanation
keepsake (English): Some object given by a person and retained in...
Definitions
- Some object given by a person and retained in...
Ancestry of “keepsake”, step by step
keepsake traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English saké
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | saké | Rice wine; a drink made from filtered fermented... |
| 2 | Japanese | 酒 | any alcoholic beverage |
| 3 | Japanese | 麦酒 | beer; any other alcoholic drink brewed mainly... |
| 4 | Dutch | bier | beer; a serving of beer; a variety of beer |
| 5 | Middle Dutch | bier | beer |
| 6 | Old Dutch | bier | beer |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | beuʀ | beer |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | beuzą | beer |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰews- | dross, sediment; dross, sediment, brewer's yeast |
via English keep
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | keep | To continue in (a course or mode of action); to not intermit or fall from; to uphold or maintain |
| 2 | Middle English | kepen | to keep, guard, look after, watch |
| 3 | Old English | cēpan | to seize, hold, observe |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *kōpijan | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | kōpijaną | to look after, observe; to watch, keep, care for |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵab- | — |