Maybe sith, in addition to its archaic meaning of “since,” is a root of some sort, a word from another language that appears in English words and makes it feel somehow familiar. One way to check on this is to do an etymology search in either the Collegiate Dictionary or in the Unabridged. We chose the Unabridged, clicked on Advanced Search, entered sith in the Etymology box, and clicked Search. Here’s what we got.

We found out that sith appears in the etymologies of banshee, scythe, send, sight, since, and syne.

The entry for banshee tells us that sith meant “fairyland” in Scottish Gaelic.

The entry for Scyth, meaning “person from Scythia,” tells us that in Middle English Sith meant an inhabitant of this ancient county near the Black Sea.

And at send, we see that sith meant “journey” or “road” in Old English.

So if sith seems to have some resonance, perhaps there is a reason. In these ancient languages feeding into English, the word sith has referred to an imaginary land, a person from an ancient faraway country, and a journey. Perhaps Mr. Lucas knew what he was doing when he came up with the name Sith. Or not. We’re just foolin’ around here.