site

Pronunciation

• IPA: /saɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English site, borrowed from Anglo-Norman site (“place, site, position”),^[2][3][4] and directly from Latin situs (“place, position, situation”),^[2][3][5] from the past participle of sinere (“to let, leave, permit”),^[3][2][6] which Barnhart calls of unknown origin.^[2] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *tkei- (“to settle, dwell”),^[3] and Merriam-Webster relates sinere to Latin serere (“to sow, plant”).^[6] It is related to situate and situation.^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The position or location of a building, the situation of a place: about 1380, in Chaucer's House of Fame and Boethius,^[2] or about 1391 for the place occupied by something.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Hoad dates “ground on which a building is set up” to the 15th century, and “situation of a place” to the 16th.^[9] The ground on which a town or building stands, or is to stand, is recorded from 1461,^[8] and the position of a town with regard to its surroundings from 1579.^[8] The seat of an industry or the scene of some condition is from 1637.^[8] In archaeology a site is a place with remains of former habitation, from 1911,^[8] and in science a position where something happens, from 1950.^[8] The verb “to locate, place” is from 1598,^[8] and sited, “situated”, from the mid-15th century.^[3] A site on the Internet is short for website.^[10][11]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – the position of a building (Chaucer).^[2]
• 1461 – the ground on which a building stands.^[8]
• mid-15th century – sited.^[3]
• 1579 – the situation of a town.^[8]
• 1598 – verb, to place.^[8]
• 1911 – an archaeological site.^[8]
• 1950 – a site in science.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The place where a building or group of buildings was, is or will be.
2. The place or setting of something: a historic site.
3. A website.

Verb

1. To place or locate on a site.

Related words

• in situ
• situate
• situation
• situs
• website
• campsite

Usage notes

A separate Middle English site, “sorrow, grief”, from Old Norse, was common in northern texts from about 1200;^[8] the English Dialect Dictionary records it in Scots as syte, “anxious care”.^[12]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)