On the same note, I'm pretty sure that the given name Sigal, for a girl, is the Hebrew equivalent of the name Violet. I mean, if it's that or a herd of cattle, let's hope for the violets...
My understanding is that Segal, etc, is an acronym for ??? ???? "assistant to the Levite."
Toby -
Yes, the name Sigal, and Sigalit both come from segel/sigla.
Howie - also true - I have heard both "sgan l'levi" and "sgan l'kohen" - both indicating Levites.
Somewhere or other - it may have been in Maayanah shel Torah, by R' A.Z. Friedman hy"d - there's a drash that associates "am segullah" with the vowel segol: just as a segol remains a segol regardless of how it's turned, similarly we Jews retain our identity in all circumstances.
Not completely off the topic, but whence 'sgalgal' meaning 'oval' (as in 'haxeder hasgalgal' - the Oval Office)? I'm sure if anyone knows or can find out, it's you :)
By the way, in modern Hebrew, of course, a violet (the flower) is 'sigalit'.
Alex - Nice drash. It's important for me to note that despite the problems with folk-etymology on the pshat level, drash-etymology can teach us some very important points.
Nominally Challenged - Steinsaltz (Nedarim 66b) says that sgalgal is the Shaphel of גלגל (galgal) - round.
I've had a theory (or maybe heard one) that samech and ayin can alternate (סניף and ענף) and so perhaps here as well: סגל and עגל. But none of my sources discuss such a letter switch.
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