sedentario

Forms

sedentario (feminine sedentaria, masculine plural sedentarios, feminine plural sedentarias)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sedentārius (“working seated; sitting”), a learned word that Corominas first finds in the Autoridades.^[2][3][1] Vox dates the borrowing to the 18th century.^[4] Corominas treats it with the learned words of the family of sentar, beside sedante, sedimento and sesión.^[3]

The Latin adjective is formed from sedēns, present participle of sedeō (“to sit, be seated”), with -ārius.^[5][1][6] The verb continues Proto-Italic *sedē- (“to be seated”), from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).^[6] The neighbouring languages have Catalan sedentari, French sédentaire, Italian sedentario and Portuguese sedentário;^[7][8] the French word is recorded from 1555 (1492 according to Bloch and Wartburg),^[9] the Portuguese from 1661.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Autoridades (vol. 6, 1739) applies it to an occupation or way of life that brings the habit of sitting.^[10][3] Terreros uses it of a person who usually sits and rests: Las mujeres son mas sedentarias que los hombres “women are more sedentary than men”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's edition of 1817 defined it as said of an occupation or life with little agitation or movement, the definition the dictionary still gives first.^[12][2] In Lima in 1775 a writer mocks poltrones de ejercicio sedentario “idlers of sedentary occupation”.^[13] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 adds a zoological sense, of a species whose members do not leave the region where they are born.^[14] The current dictionary also uses it of a people settled on the land and farming, as opposed to nomads, and of animals without organs of locomotion that stay fixed in one place.^[2] In medicine it describes a person who sits a great deal and takes little exercise.^[15]

Timeline

• 1555 – French sédentaire is recorded.^[9]
• 1739 – first record in Spanish, in the Autoridades.^[10][3]
• 1775 – first record from the Americas, in Lima.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as “of little agitation or movement”.^[12]
• 1917 – Alemany records the zoological sense.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of an occupation or way of life: involving little activity or movement; sedentary: Desde que trabaja en la oficina lleva una vida muy sedentaria.^[2][16]
2. Of a tribe or people: settled in one place and living by farming, as opposed to nomadic (nómada).^[2][4]
3. (zoology) Of an animal: lacking organs of locomotion, or losing them as an adult, and staying fixed in one place.^[2]
4. (medicine) Of a person: sitting much of the time and taking little physical exercise.^[15][2]

Related words

• sentar
• sede
• sedimento
• Latin sedeō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. sedentario
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 205
4. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. sedentario
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 282
8. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 65
11. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 453
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 791
13. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. sedentario
14. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1497
15. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. sedentario
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sedentario