means The vast body of salt water that covers most of the planet, smaller than an ocean but no less able to swallow a ship.

from From Old English 'sǣ', a word shared across the Germanic languages — a cousin of Dutch 'zee' and German 'See'. Its deeper roots are murky: scholars trace it to a Proto-Germanic '*saiwiz', but beyond that the trail runs cold, as if the word itself sank without leaving a clear shore behind.