Seafaring: what a cool word!
Sea comes from proto-Germanic saiwaz. Its origins before that are mysterious and ancient, but it’s probably a Proto-Indo European (PIE) word. We use it fairly commonly in English today.
Faring, on the other hand, comes from the Old English word faran, meaning "to journey” or just “to go.” It also traces its roots all the way back to PIE.
The word seafaring is ancient, and so is the practice.
How ancient?
We know for near-certain that modern humans crossed a significant portion of the Indian Ocean at least 65,000 years ago. How do we know this?
In a word: Australia. For millions of years now, the continent has remained unattached to Asia and Africa, and since the ancestors of modern humans initially evolved in Africa, the only way they could have reached Australia is by crossing a significant amount of open water.
The vast oceans would have been broken up by more islands back then—sea levels were lower—but there would have still been thousand-mile stretches o…
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