An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/selb

by Friedrich Kluge

selb, selber, selbst, pronoun, ‘self-same, self, himself,’ &c., from Middle High German sëlp (b), Old High German sëlb, pronoun, ‘self, himself,’ &c.; compare Old Saxon self, Dutch zelf, Anglo-Saxon sylf, Old Icelandic sjalfr, Gothic silba, ‘self, himself,’ &c. A pronoun peculiar to Teutonic, which signified literally perhaps ‘master, possessor’ (thus Sanscrit patis, ‘master,’ is similar to Lithuanian pats, ‘self’). Compare Old Irish selb, feminine, ‘possession’?.