seat

Pronunciation

• IPA: /siːt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sete, borrowed from Old Norse sæti (“seat, position”),^[2][3][4] from the stem of sitja (“to sit”),^[4] from Proto-Germanic *sæt-,^[2] the source also of Middle Dutch gesaete and German Gesäß “buttocks”,^[2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”),^[2][3] the root of sit and of Latin sedēre.^[6] Old English had sæt “a place of ambush”, and Middle English sete may have been partly influenced by it.^[3][2] The verb is from the noun.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A thing or place to sit on: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle and Layamon,^[3] about 1200 in Etymonline.^[2] The OED's first sense, the action of sitting, is from about 1200.^[8]

Semantic evolution

A chair of dignity or authority is a seat from about 1200.^[2] The sense “residence, established place” is from the late 13th century, an extended use influenced by Old French siege and Latin sēdēs.^[2][3] The part of the body in which a humour arises is from the late 14th century,^[2] and the location of a disease from before 1393, in Gower.^[3] A city where a government sits is from about 1400,^[2] and the part of a saddle or chair on which one sits from about 1400.^[2] The buttocks are a seat from about 1600, and the part of a garment covering them from 1835.^[2] A place in a legislature is from 1774,^[2] and seat belt, first in aeroplanes, from 1915.^[2] The verb, “to place on a seat”, is from 1589,^[8] and of a theatre, “to have seats for”, by 1830.^[2] In Scotland seat long meant a sitting of a court.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – a thing to sit on.^[3][2]
• late 13th century – a residence.^[2]
• before 1393 – the seat of a disease.^[3]
• c. 1400 – the seat of government.^[2]
• 1589 – verb, to sit down.^[8]
• c. 1600 – the buttocks.^[2]
• 1774 – a seat in parliament.^[2]
• 1915 – seat belt.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something to sit on, such as a chair or bench; a place to sit.
2. The part of a chair on which one sits.
3. The buttocks, or the part of a garment that covers them.
4. A place of government or centre of an activity: the seat of learning.
5. Membership in a legislature, or a constituency.
6. A large country house.

Verb

1. To place on a seat; to cause to sit.
2. To have seats for: the hall seats 500.
3. To fit firmly in place.

Word family

• seater
• seatless
• backseat
• disseat
• seatback
• seating
• seatmate
• seat-of-the-pants

Related words

• sit
• set
• settle
• saddle
• sedentary
• session
• siege

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press