An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/selig

by Friedrich Kluge

selig, adjective, ‘happy, blessed, deceased, late,’ from Middle High German sœlec, Old High German sâlig, adjective, ‘happy, blessed, blissful, salutary’; lengthened by the suffix -îg from an older *sâl, which was preserved in Middle High German sûllîche, ‘in a lucky manner’; compare Gothic sêls, ‘good, suitable,’ Anglo-Saxon sœ̂lig, ‘good, happy,’ Old High German sâlida, Middle High German sœlde, feminine, ‘happiness, welfare.’ Gothic sêls is usually compared with Greek ὅλος (Ionian οὖλος), ‘whole,’ from solvos, οὖλε, as a greeting, Sanscrit sarva s, ‘whole, all,’ Latin sollus, ‘whole.’ — selig, in the adjectives, just as trübselig, saumselig, and mühselig, has nothing to do with Old High German sâlîg, since it is a suffix of the neutrals Trübsal, Saumsal, Mühsal. In substantives of this kind -sal itself is a suffix formed from Old High German isal (genitive -sles), which appears in Gothic as -isl, neuter.