sich

See also: Sich and sịch

English

WOTD – 14 October 2016

A sich rada, the highest branch of government of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. It was based at their administrative centre called the Zaporizhian Sich, a semi-autonomous Cossack polity in the 16th to 18th centuries.

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Ukrainian Січ (Sič), from Ukrainian сікти (sikty, “to chop”), alluding to the clearing of a forest for an encampment, or the building of a fort with trees that have been cut down.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siːt͡ʃ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -iːtʃ

Noun

sich (plural sichs or siches)

1. (historical) An administrative and military centre for the Zaporozhian and Danube Cossacks.

Translations

administrative and military centre for Cossacks

• French: sitch (fr) f, sietch (fr) f, setch (fr) f
• German: Sitsch f
• Polish: Sicz f
• Russian: Сечь (ru) f (Sečʹ)
• Ukrainian: Сі́ч (uk) f (Síč)

Further reading

• sich on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Adjective

sich (not comparable)

1. (Mid-Ulster, pronunciation) Alternative form of such
   • 1895, Rudyard Kipling, The Young British Soldier:

     She's human as you are—you treat her as sich,

   • 1892, William Carleton, Amusing Irish Tales:

     But I'm all in tremor after sich accident,

Pronoun

sich

1. Alternative form of such

Anagrams

• CHIS, chis, HCIs, ICHs, IHCs, Isch, Chis

German

Etymology

From Middle High German sich, from Old High German sih, from Proto-Germanic *sek. Compare Yiddish זיך (zikh), Dutch zich.

This pronoun was originally restricted to the accusative case, while simple personal pronouns were used in the dative. Dative use of sich in Middle High German was restricted to northern dialects of Central German. In Early Modern German, a rare dative sir also occurred, formed by analogy with mir, dir. An obstacle to the generalisation of this form was the use of sich in the plural, where there operated the conflicting analogy with the merged accusative/dative forms uns, euch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zɪç/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪç

Pronoun

sich (both accusative and dative)

1. (reflexive pronoun) Reflexive pronoun of the third person singular: herself, himself, themself, itself, oneself (direct or indirect object)
2. (reflexive pronoun) Reflexive pronoun of the third person plural: themselves (direct or indirect object)

Related terms

• mich, mir, dich, dir, uns, euch
• seiner, ihrer

Further reading

• “sich” in Duden online
• “sich” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Scots

Adjective

sich (comparative mair sich, superlative maist sich)

1. Alternative form of sic

Pronoun

sich

1. Alternative form of sic