say: [OE] Say is part of a widespread Germanic family of ‘say’-verbs, which also contains German sagen, Dutch zeggen, Swedish s?ga, and Danish sige. These point back to a common Germanic ancestor *sagjan, which was descended from the Indo-European base *seq-. This originally signified ‘point out’, but evolved to ‘say’, and it also lies behind Lithuanian sakyti, Latvian sacīt, Welsh eb, and Latin inquit, all of which mean ‘say’. => saga, saw
say (v.)
Old English secgan "to utter, inform, speak, tell, relate," from Proto-Germanic *sagjanan (cognates: Old Saxon seggian, Old Norse segja, Danish sige, Old Frisian sedsa, Middle Dutch segghen, Dutch zeggen, Old High German sagen, German sagen "to say"), from PIE *sokwyo-, from root *sekw- (3) "to say, utter" (cognates: Hittite shakiya- "to declare," Lithuanian sakyti "to say," Old Church Slavonic sociti "to vindicate, show," Old Irish insce "speech," Old Latin inseque "to tell say").
Past tense said developed from Old English segde. Not attested in use with inanimate objects (clocks, signs, etc.) as subjects before 1930. You said it "you're right" first recorded 1919; you can say that again as a phrase expressing agreement is recorded from 1942, American English. You don't say (so) as an expression of astonishment (often ironic) is first recorded 1779, American English.
say (n.)
"what someone says," 1570s, from say (v.). Meaning "right or authority to influence a decision" is from 1610s. Extended form say-so is first recorded 1630s. Compare Old English secge "speech."
雙語例句
1. All this, needless to say, had been culled second-hand from radio reports.
不用說，所有這些都是從電臺報道中采集來的二手材料。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The deal seems so attractive it would be ridiculous to say no.
這筆交易看上去太誘人了，要是拒絕它簡直是笑話。
來自柯林斯例句
3. People always think I'm a fool, and I dare say they're right.
人們總認為我是個傻瓜，想必他們是對的。
來自柯林斯例句
4. He won his first Derby on the aptly named "Never Say Die".
他駕馭著這匹名副其實的“永不言敗”奪得了他的第一個德比馬賽冠軍。
來自柯林斯例句
5. Politicians say it could lead to a dissolution of parliament.