side: [OE] The etymological meaning of side appears to be the ‘long’ surface of something (as opposed to the ends or the top or bottom, which are the ‘shorter’ or ‘narrower’ surfaces). The word goes back, together with German seite, Dutch zijde, Swedish sida, and Danish side, to a prehistoric Germanic *sīthō, which was probably derived from the adjective *sīthaz ‘long, deep, low’ (source of Swedish sid ‘long’).
