An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Sattel

by Friedrich Kluge

Sattel, masculine, ‘saddle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German satel, Old High German satal, satul, masculine; corresponding to Dutch zadel, Anglo-Saxon sadol, English saddle, Old Icelandic sǫðull, masculine; Gothic *saduls is by chance not recorded. The assumption that the word is borrowed from Latin sedîle is not supported either by the sound or the meaning. The common Old Teutonic *sadula- cannot, however, be primitively allied to sitzen (Teutonic root set). Perhaps the word was anciently borrowed from another Aryan tongue, which could probably form sadula- from the root sed, ‘to sit’ (compare Reich); compare Slavonic sedlo (sedĭlo), ‘saddle.’