Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian sib , sibbe kinship, relatives collectively (West Frisian sibbe ), Middle Dutch sibbe family, kin (Dutch †sibbe relationship, family), Old Saxon sibbia relationship, family (Middle Low German sibbe ), Old High German sibba , sippa , sipbea kinship, alliance, peace (Middle High German sippe kinship, German Sippe kinship, relatives collectively, kinship group, species), Old Icelandic sifjar (plural) relationship by marriage, kinship, Gothic sibja kinship, relationship, probably < the same Indo-European base as ancient Greek σφί , classical Latin sibi , Old Church Slavonic sebě , Old Prussian sebbei , dative singular forms of the reflexive pronoun, ultimately < the same Indo-European base as classical Latin sē (see per se n.³). It is unclear whether the noun (sib n.¹) or the related adjective (sib adj.) is to be regarded as the primary formation in Germanic. Compare sib n.², which shows a later formation from the adjective.Senses relating to peace are attested widely in Old English, and somewhat less frequently in Old High German; compare also Gothic gasibjon to be reconciled (with one's brother), and the Gothic form cited at unsib n.² These apparently show a secondary development from the original sense ‘kinship’, as based on an expectation of a certain kind of relations between individuals belonging to the same family or lineage. Compare the converse semantic development of the Germanic cognates of friend n., ultimately going back to a Germanic verb in the sense ‘to love’. The early Middle English form sibben (from the Caligula manuscript of Laȝamon’s Brut) probably shows nunnation, a very common feature of the language of this text in this manuscript, which has not been satisfactorily explained.

Etymology: Shortened < sibilant n.

Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian sib , sibbe (West Frisian sib ), Middle Dutch sibbe , Middle Low German sibbe , Old High German sippi (Middle High German sippe , early modern German sippe ), all in the sense ‘related’ < the same Germanic base as sib n.¹ (see discussion at that entry). In Middle English (and perhaps already in Old English) probably partly shortened < ysibbe adj., which is significantly more common than the unprefixed form in Old English. With sense B. 3 compare earlier sib n.¹ 1 (apparently obsolete by the end of the Old English period).With use as noun compare also (showing an n -stem derivative of the same Germanic base) Old Frisian sibba (West Frisian sibbe ), Middle Dutch sibbe , Old Saxon sibbio , Old High German sibbo (Middle High German sippe , German †Sippe , †Sipp ), all in a range of senses ‘family member, relative, blood relative, person related by marriage’, and Old Icelandic -sifi (in guðsifi godfather (see gossip n.); Icelandic sifji close relative). Later history in English. The word was archaic and regional by the 18th cent. The later uses as a term in anthropology and biology (see senses B. 4 and B. 5) are apparently after German Sippe (see sib n.¹), which had similarly been revived in such uses in the latter part of the 18th cent. In sense B. 5 partly (especially in later use) shortened < sibling n. Senses in Old English. In late Old English the adjective is apparently also found in an isolated attestation in the sense ‘of or relating to peace’ (compare sib n.¹ 2) in sibbne coss (accusative singular) kiss of peace, probably by reanalysis of earlier sibbecoss kiss of peace, a compound of sib n.¹; compare discussion at ysibbe adj.