selfsame en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˌsɛlfˈseɪm/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈsɛlfˌseɪm/ (General-American)
- /ˈsɛlfseɪm/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
PIE word *swé From Middle English self sam, self same, selve same (“the very same, selfsame”) [and other forms], from self (“that specific (person mentioned), herself, himself, itself, themselves”, pronoun) (from Old English self, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”)) + sam, same (“(adjective) equal, identical; unchanging; referred to earlier, abovenamed, aforementioned; (adverb) again, repeatedly”) (from Old Norse samr (“same; agreeing, of one mind”), ultimately probably from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”)). The English word is analysable as self + same. Cognates * Danish selvsamme (“identical, selfsame”) * Old High German selbsama (“identical, selfsame”)
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Chiefly preceded by the: precisely the same; the very same; the same not only in being similar but in being identical.
He and his Horse, were of a piece. / One Spirit did inform them both, / The self-same Vigor, Fury, Wroth: […]
1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 40:In my ſchoole dayes, vvhen I had loſt one ſhaft [i.e., arrow], / I ſhot his fellovv of the ſelfe-ſame flight / The ſelfe-ſame vvay, vvith more aduiſed vvatch / To finde the other foorth, and by aduentring both, / I oft found both. I vrge this child-hoode proofe, / Becauſe vvhat follovves, is pure innocence.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:For both of you are Birds of ſelfe-ſame Feather.
c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 162, column 1:But in [Isaac] Newton, science was as easy as breathing; he used the same wit to weigh the moon that he used to buckle his shoes; and all his life was simple, wise, and majestic. So it was in Archimedes,—always self-same, like the sky.
1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Works and Days”, in Society and Solitude. Twelve Chapters, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 164:Mine be the strength of spirit fierce and free, / Like some broad river rushing down alone, / With the selfsame impulse wherewith he was thrown / From his loud fount upon the echoing lea:— […]
1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “Sonnet”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 1:[T]hrough my police issue 200 × 6000 macroscopic laser-prism binoculars I could see he was the same guy who had just bopped the doorman in the head. […] But you can imagine my surprise when I angled said state-of-the-art bins to the street, watched the long black car as it rolled up and saw the self-same guy step out of it.
1992, Robert Rankin, chapter 12, in The Suburban Book of the Dead: Armageddon III: The Remake, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 131:He trod the very ſelf-ſame ground you tread, / And victory refuted all he ſaid.
1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Table Talk”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 21:And Quack and Dupe, as we must ever keep in mind, are upper-side and under of the self-same substance; convertible personages: turn up your dupe into the proper fostering element, and he himself can become a quack; […]
1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Morrison’s Pill”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem), page 26:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| self-same | alternative | lexicographic | |
| self same | alternative | lexicographic |
Antonyms
different · diverse · differing · other · dissimilar · other · unalike · unlike
Deriveds
Synonyms
selfsame · one and the same · identical · nondifferent · indifferent · self · undifferentiated · undifferent
Translations (22)
it medesimo (precisely the same) · it stesso (precisely the same) · la identidem (precisely the same) · nl dezelfde (precisely the same) · fi samainen (precisely the same) · nl identieke (precisely the same) · fr identique (precisely the same) · de derselbe (precisely the same) · de dasselbe (precisely the same) · de dieselbe (precisely the same) · gl mesmo (precisely the same) · ro același (precisely the same) · ro aceeași (precisely the same) · ru тот са́мый (precisely the same) · pl identyczny (precisely the same) · it identico (precisely the same) · pl jednakowy (precisely the same) · fi sama (precisely the same) · ru то́т же са́мый (precisely the same) · pl jednaki (precisely the same) · fr le même (precisely the same) · bg същият (precisely the same)