Etymology: Old English sealh (Anglian salh) < prehistoric *salho-z masculine; cognate with Old High German salaha weak feminine (Middle High German salhe, modern German in combination salweide) < *salhōn-; Old Norse selja weak feminine (Swedish sälj, sälg, Danish selje) < *salhjōn-; cognates outside Germanic are Latin salic-, salix, Greek ἑλίκη, Irish saileach, Welsh helyg (collective). The French saule is an adoption < GermanicThe Old English nominative singular is directly represented by the dialectal saugh n. The β and γ forms above descend from the late Anglian flexional form salg- , salig- , where the g is introduced on the analogy of those nouns in which final h is a euphonic modification of g . The form seal n.⁴ appears partly to represent the normal flexional form of the stem in Old English, as in seales genitive singular, sealas plural, and partly to be adopted < Old Norse selja.

Etymology: Old English salo = Middle Dutch salu, saluwe discoloured, dirty (Dutch †zaluw), Old High German salo, salew- dark-coloured (Middle High German sal, salw-, modern German dialect sal), Icelandic söl-r yellow < Germanic *salwo-, whence French sale, Italian salavo dirty. Compare Russian solovyj light bay.

Etymology: < sallow adj.