An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Saum

by Friedrich Kluge

Saum (1.), masculine, ‘border,’ from Middle High German and Old High German soum, masculine, ‘sewn edge of a garment, border’; corresponding to Dutch zoom, Anglo-Saxon seám, masculine, English seam, Old Frisian sâm, Old Icelandic saumr, masculine, ‘border, seam’ (Gothic *sauma- is by chance not recorded). A graded form of the Aryan root sû-, a variant of the root sī̆w, ‘to sew,’ discussed under Säule (2). Compare Sanscrit sûtra, ‘thread.’

Saum (2.), ‘load,’ from Middle High German and Old High German soum, masculine, ‘load of a beast of burden’ (also as a measure of weight), ‘beast of burden’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon seám, ‘horse-load,’ English seam. Borrowed prior to the Old High German period, probably even before the Anglo-Saxon migration, from Low Latin sauma (σάγμα), ‘pack-saddle,’ whence also Italian salma, French somme. —