Etymologically
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settle

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈset.əl/, US /ˈset̬.əl/[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English setlen, inherited from Old English setlan (“to place in a fixed position, to seat”),[2][3][4] from setl (“a seat”),[3][2] which also gave the noun settle, a bench.[3][4] Old English setl is from Proto-Germanic *setlą, which also gave Dutch zetel, German Sessel and Gothic sitls,[3][2][4] from PIE *sedla-, from the root Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”);[2] it is related to Latin sella “seat, saddle”, to saddle and to sit.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun setl, a seat, position or abode, is in Beowulf about 725;[3] the verb, to seat or put in a place of rest, is from about 1000.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

To come to rest after flying, of birds, is from before 1300,[3][2] and of ground, to sink, from the early 14th century.[2] Of liquids, to become clear as sediment sinks, is from the early 15th century.[2] A person's becoming calm is from the 1520s,[2] to decide or fix on something from 1621,[3][2] and to make one's home, especially in a new country, from 1627, with to colonize by 1702.[3][2] To secure property by deed is from the 1660s,[2] and to resolve a dispute by agreement developed from the 16th century;[4] Etymonline suggests that this sense merged with Middle English sahtlen “to reconcile”, from Old Norse.[2] Settle down, of a married couple, is by 1835.[2] The noun settle, a long wooden bench with a high back, is from 1553.[6][2] Settlement is from 1626, a colony from 1697.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – setl, a seat.[3]
  • c. 1000 – to seat.[6]
  • before 1300 – to come to rest.[3]
  • 1553 – a settle, a bench.[6]
  • 1621 – to decide.[3]
  • 1627 – to make a home.[3]
  • 1702 – to colonize.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To come to rest, or to put in a comfortable or steady position.
  2. To resolve a dispute or decide a question.
  3. To pay a bill or debt.
  4. To make a home in a place; to colonize.
  5. To become or make calm: to settle one's nerves.
  6. To sink, or to clear by the sinking of particles.
  7. (settle down) To adopt a quieter, more regular life.

Noun

  1. A long wooden bench with a high back and arms.

Word family

  • settleable
  • settleability
  • settledness
  • presettle
  • settee
  • unsettle
  • settlor
  • resettle

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press