selfsame
Chiefly preceded by the: precisely the same; the very same; the same not only in being similar but in being identical.
Adjective
- Chiefly preceded by the: precisely the same; the very same; the same not only in being similar but in being identical.
- For both of you are Birds of ſelfe-ſame Feather. - c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First...
- In my ſchoole dayes, vvhen I had loſt one ſhaft [i.e., arrow], / I ſhot his fellovv of the ſelfe-ſame flight / The ſelfe-ſame vvay, vvith more aduiſed vvatch / To finde the other foorth, and by aduentring both, / I oft...
- He and his Horse, were of a piece. / One Spirit did inform them both, / The self-same Vigor, Fury, Wroth: […] - 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The...
Synonyms: identical indifferent nondifferent one and the same self selfsame undifferent undifferentiated
Antonyms: other different differing dissimilar diverse unalike unlike
Origin
PIE word *swé From Middle English self sam, self same, selve same (“the very same, selfsame”) [and other forms], from self (“that specific (person mentioned), herself, himself, itself, themselves”, pronoun) (from Old English self, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”)) + sam, same (“(adjective) equal, identical; unchanging; referred to earlier, abovenamed, aforementioned; (adverb) again, repeatedly”) (from Old Norse samr (“same; agreeing, of one mind”), ultimately probably from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”)). The English word is analysable as self + same. Cognates * Danish selvsamme (“identical, selfsame”) * Old High German selbsama (“identical, selfsame”)
Forms
Derived
Noun
- Chiefly preceded by the: precisely the same person or thing.
- I preſent vvhat here is to you, vvherein you ſhall receive but the ſelfeſame by Number and by Meaſure; vvhich, before, you had by VVeight. - 1634, Fra[ncis] Quarles, “Mildreiados. To the Blessed Memory of that Faire...
- So ſtrictly is the Specific Nature preſerv'd in the Individuals of the ſame kind, vvho all equally partake of it, and are ſo very reſembling and uniform in it, that they ſeem but as ſo many Self-ſames, ſo many...