An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/sichten

by Friedrich Kluge

sichten, verb, ‘to sift, winnow,’ Modern High German only, formed from Low German sichten, earlier Dutch zichten, ‘to sift’; these are derived from an older siften, with a Low German change of ft to ht; Modern Dutch ziften, with an abnormal ft (for gt), is based on zeef, ‘sieve.’ Compare Anglo-Saxon siftan, English to sift. A derivative of the root sib, ‘to sift’; see Sieb.