seem: [12] Originally, seem meant ‘be suitable’ (a meaning preserved in the derived seemly [13]). It was borrowed from the Old Norse verb soema ‘conform to, honour’. This was derived from the adjective soemr ‘fitting’, a descendant of the prehistoric base *sōm- (to which English same is distantly related). The sense ‘appear to be’ emerged in the early 13th century. => same, seemly, soft
seem (v.)
c. 1200, "to appear to be;" c. 1300, "to be fitting, be appropriate, be suitable," though the more recent sense in English is the etymological one; from Old Norse soema "to honor; to put up with; to conform to (the world, etc.)," verb derived from adjective soemr "fitting," from Proto-Germanic *somi- (cognates: Old English som "agreement, reconciliation," seman "to conciliate," source of Middle English semen "to settle a dispute," literally "to make one;" Old Danish some "to be proper or seemly"), from PIE *som-i-, from root *sem- "one, as one" (see same). Related: Seemed; seeming.
例文
1. Victorian houses can seem cold with their lofty ceilings and rambling rooms.
ビクトリア式家屋は屋根が高くそびえており、間取りが乱れているため、冷暗に見える可能性があります。
2.I seem to friter my time away at coffee mornings.
私はコーヒー朝のお茶会に時間を浪費してしまったようです。
3.He rubbed and rubbed but couldn 't seem to get clean.
彼はこすったりこすったりしたが、きれいに拭けなかった。
4.The idea of spending two weeks with him may seem heavenly.
彼と2週間一緒に過ごすという考えはとても素敵に聞こえます。
5.T-shirts now seem almost de rigueur in the West End.