Sith (Hastings' Dictionary)

The Anglo-Sax. prep, sith (originally an adverb= ' after ') with tlie pron. dam = them, formed siththan ' after that ' ( = Ger. seitdcm). Then siththan was contracted to sithen, which again became sometimes Hth and sometimes sin. The adv. suffix s being added to sithen gave middle Eng. sitheiis, afterwards spelt sithence to keep the s sharp in pronunciation, like pem-c for pens, dice for dies ; and this was contracted to since, the contraction being helped by the form sin.

'Sith' was used as a prep., an adv., or a conjunction. Thus as adv.. Wye. Works, iii. 114, ' Ffyrst they trow in the Ffadyr, for he ys fyrst persone ; aftyr they trow in Jesus Crist, be dyvers artyclys ; and svtthe they trow in the Holy Gost'; as prep., Knox, Works, iii. 278, ' Transubstantiation, the byrde that the Devel hatched by Pope Nicolas, and sythe that time fostered and nurryshed by al his children'; and as conj., Berner, Froissart, Pref.

, 'Among all other I read diligently the four volumes or books of sir John Froissart of the country of Hainault, written in the French tongue, which I judged commodious, necessary and profit- able to be h.ad in English, sith they treat of the famous acts done in our parts.' 'Sith' occurs in AV 1611 in Jer 15' 23'«, Ezk 35«, Zee 4i°'°^-, 2 Es 7'"', and Ko 5'"»""''«, and ' sitheuce ' in 2 Es lO''.

As early as 1616 ' sith- ence' was changed into 'since,' and 'sith' was in time changed (by Paris or Blayney) into the same mod. form in all places except fizk 35", Ko 5 bead For ' sithence ' of. Lk 20'= Khem. 'In the resurrection therefore, whose wife shal she be of them ? sithens the seven had her to wife.' 'Sith' often occurs in the Psalms in metre, viz. 16» 22' ai* 33=1 50" (both versions) 73"' S(i^ 100-> IIQ'"', always as a conjunction. J. Hastings.