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set

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Pronunciation

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English setten,[2][3] inherited from Old English settan (“to cause to sit, put in a place, fix firmly”),[4][5] from Proto-Germanic *satjanan,[5] the causative of the verb that became sit.[4][6][7] Its cognates are Old Frisian setta, Old Saxon settian, Dutch zetten, Old High German sezzen (modern German setzen), Old Norse setja and Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (satjan),[5][6] and its root is Proto-Indo-European *sod-, a variant of *sed- (“to sit”).[4][8] The adjective is the past participle of the verb.[5][7] The noun meaning “a group, a collection” comes partly from the verb and partly from sette (“sequence”), a variant of secte, from Medieval Latin secta (“retinue”), from Latin secta (“a following, faction”) (see sect);[4][5][9] Skeat first proposed this link with sect.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cause to sit, to put in a place, to fix firmly (Old English, about 725 in Beowulf).[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old English settan already meant “to put in a definite place”, “to arrange, fix” and “to appoint (a time)”.[4] Its intransitive uses grew out of reflexive ones: the jelly sets was earlier reflexive,[10] and the sun sets, recorded from the mid-13th century, may follow the Scandinavian reflexive setjask.[4][6][10] Set and sit have been confused since the early 14th century, partly because their past forms were alike and partly because some of their senses overlap.[5][11][4] The verb came to be used in so many idioms that the Century Dictionary compared it to put, do and make, words that take their meaning from the context.[4] The noun set first meant a religious body (1387),[12][13] then a group of people sharing status, habits or interests (1680s)[12][4] and a fashionable social circle (1777).[12] Things that belong together were called a set from 1443,[5] and the word was later applied to a set of games in tennis (1570s), the scenery of a play (by 1859), a radio or telephone apparatus (1891) and a session of music played in a club (about 1925).[4] The adjective went from “appointed beforehand, prescribed” in late Old English to “fixed, unmoving” and, from 1844, “ready, prepared”;[4][9] get set! in sprinting is attested by 1890.[4][9] Bartlett (1848) quoted He is very set in his ways as American usage.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English settan, to cause to sit, to place.[5]
  • late Old English – set (adjective), appointed, prescribed.[9][4]
  • c. 1200 – (intransitive) to be seated.[4]
  • mid-13th century – of the sun, to go down.[4]
  • 1387 – a religious body, a sect (obsolete).[12][13]
  • 1443 – a number of things that belong together.[5]
  • 1570s – a set of games in tennis.[4]
  • 1682 – a group of people with shared status or interests.[12]
  • 1777 – a fashionable social circle.[12]
  • 1844 – (adjective) ready, prepared.[4]
  • 1859 – the scenery of a theatre scene.[4]
  • 1891 – an apparatus such as a telephone or radio set.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To put something in a particular place or position.
  2. To put into a particular state: set free.
  3. To fix or decide on: set a date.
  4. To adjust (a clock or instrument) to a required point.
  5. To prepare: set the table.
  6. To put (a broken bone) back into place.
  7. To arrange (type or text) for printing.
  8. Of a liquid, to become firm or hard: the jelly set.
  9. Of the sun or moon, to go down below the horizon.

Noun

  1. A group of things of the same kind that belong together: a chess set.
  2. A group of people with shared interests or status: the jet set.
  3. The scenery for a play, or the place where a film is shot.
  4. A radio or television receiver.
  5. A group of games forming a unit in tennis and similar sports.
  6. A session of music played before an intermission.
  7. The direction of flow of wind or water.

Adjective

  1. Fixed by agreement or authority: set hours.
  2. Unwilling to change: set in their ways.
  3. Determined: set on going.
  4. Ready: all set.

Word family

  • offset
  • onset
  • outset
  • deep-set
  • heavyset
  • mindset

Usage notes

Because set originally meant “to cause to sit”, it is mostly transitive (she sets the book on the table), while sit is mostly intransitive; standard exceptions are the sun sets and the glue sets, and a hen may either set or sit on her eggs.[2][15] Using set for sit in the sense “to be seated” (set by me) is nonstandard.[15]

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  14. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
  15. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House