An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Same

by Friedrich Kluge

Same, masculine, ‘seed, semen, spawn,’ from Middle High German sâme, Old High German and Old Saxon sâmo, masculine, ‘grain of seed, seed, descendants, field, soil’; a derivative of the root sê, ‘to sow,’ contained in Saat and säen. Corresponding to Latin sêmen, Old Slovenian sěmę, ‘seed,’ Lithuanian sėmů, ‘seed’; an Aryan neuter sê-mn-, with a suffix men, is implied; the same suffix appears in Keim and Blume. A different derivation is indicated by Old Irish síl and Lithuanian sėklà, ‘seed’ (primary form sêtla}.