sedation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sedacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French sedacion^[2][3] and directly borrowed from Latin sēdātiō (“a quieting, allaying, calming”),^[2][4][3] a noun of action from sēdātus, the past participle of sēdō (“to settle, make calm”),^[4][3][5] which is the causative of sedeō (“to sit”),^[4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).^[4] The OED, which dates the word from 1543, derives it from French sédation or Latin,^[6] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged likewise from Middle French sedation or Latin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The relief of pain: probably before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's surgery, where sedacioun renders Latin sedatione and is glossed "easing or ceasing".^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The OED's record begins in 1543, with Traheron's translation of Vigo's surgery, for the medical action of allaying or calming.^[6][5] A general sense, the calming of anything, was used from 1616 to 1674,^[6] and Etymonline dates "the act of making calm" to the 1540s;^[4] a rare sense "the state of being settled" appears in 1661.^[6] The word now refers mainly to calming by means of sedative drugs,^[6][7] and also to the state of sleep or quiet they produce.^[7][8] The verb sedate in the sense "to treat with sedatives" is recorded only by 1945.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – the relief of pain.^[2][4]
• 1543 – in medicine, the action of allaying or calming.^[6][5]
• 1616 – the calming of anything (obsolete by 1674).^[6]
• 1661 – the state of being settled (rare, obsolete).^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The calming of a person, or the relief of anxiety, stress or excitement, by giving a sedative drug: The patient was kept under light sedation overnight.^[8][5][9][6]
2. The state of calm or sleep produced by a sedative.^[8][5][9][7]

Word family

• oversedation

Related words

• sedate
• sedative
• sit
• sedentary

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster