sédation

Forms

sédation f (plural sédations)^[1] Also written cedation in Middle French (1397, about 1520).^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sēdātiō (“a calming, appeasing”), derived from sēdō (“to calm, settle”), itself the causative of sedeō (“to sit”).^[3][4][5]

Cognate with Old Occitan sedacio.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Henri de Mondeville's Chirurgie (1314) has sedation de doulour, “the soothing of pain”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle French the word also meant the settling of a quarrel (cedation, 1397), and a 15th-century text speaks of the sedation of divisions and disputes; this use has died out.^[2][5] The medical sense remained: the calming of a disorder or pain, and in particular of nervous excitement.^[3][2] Littré defines it as the action of sedative drugs.^[5]

Timeline

• 1314 – Henri de Mondeville writes sedation de doulour.^[3][5]
• 1397 – Cedation is used of calming a quarrel.^[2]
• c. 1520 – The spelling cedation is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) The soothing of a disorder, an illness or pain.^[3][6]
2. In particular, the calming of nervous excitement, as by a sédatif.^[3][6]

Related words

• sédatif
• Latin sēdātiō

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
4. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert