𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽

Forms

𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (sitan), a strong verb of the fifth class.^[1][2][3] Its principal parts are 𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽, 𐍃𐌰𐍄, 𐍃𐌴𐍄𐌿𐌼 (sitan, sat, setum);^[3] the past participle is not recorded.^[4] The commonest forms are the present participle, above all the accusative 𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (sitandan, eight times), and the preterite 𐍃𐌰𐍄 (sat, seven); the preterite plural 𐍃𐌴𐍄𐌿𐌽 (setun) occurs once, at Mark 3:32.^[5][2] Unlike the other Germanic languages, Gothic has no -j- in the present.^[6][7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sitjaną (“to sit”),^[8][9][7] as are Old Norse sitja, Old English sittan, Old Frisian sitta, Old Saxon sittian and Old High German sizzen.^[9] It continues Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).^[8][4][2] Kroonen derives the Germanic present from *sed-ie-, formally identical with Ancient Greek ἕζομαι (hézomai, “to sit down”), and compares Latin sedeō, Old Irish saidid and Lithuanian sėdėti.^[9] The lack of the present suffix in Gothic is debated: Lehmann puts it down to the influence of other forms of the paradigm, while Kroonen suggests an old present whose suffix had a full grade in the singular and a zero grade in the plural.^[4][9] Lehmann and Feist see a lengthened grade of the root in the preterite plural.^[4][6]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 34 tokens, in the four Gospels and Colossians, 31 of them in manuscript CA.^[5] Köbler counts 33 records.^[2] The first in canonical order is at Matthew 9:9.^[5] Of the 33 tokens PROIEL aligns with the Greek, 25 render Ancient Greek κάθημαι (káthēmai), five Ancient Greek καθίζω (kathízō), two Ancient Greek καθέζομαι (kathézomai) and one Ancient Greek συγκάθημαι (sunkáthēmai).^[10] At Matthew 9:9: jah þairhleiþands Iesus jainþro gasaƕ mannan sitandan at motai, Maþþaiu haitanana, "and as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office".^[11]

Meanings

1. to sit, be sitting, be seated, for Ancient Greek κάθημαι (káthēmai)^[3][2][10]

Word family

• 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (andsitan, “to shrink from, fear”)
• 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bisitan, “to live nearby”)
• 𐌳𐌹𐍃𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (dissitan, “to seize”)
• 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (gasitan, “to sit down”)
• 𐌿𐍃𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (ussitan, “to sit up”)

Related words

• 𐍃𐌰𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (satjan, “to set”)
• 𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌻𐍃 (sitls, “seat”)
• 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍃𐌴𐍄𐍃 (andasēts, “abominable”)

References

1. ^ Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. sitan
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sitan
3. ^ a b c Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 136
4. ^ a b c d Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. sitan
5. ^ a b c De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be
6. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. sitan
7. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *setjanan
8. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽
9. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 433
10. ^ a b Haug, Dag T. T. et al., PROIEL Treebank: The Gothic Bible (gothic-nt), 2023 release, Pragmatic Resources in Old Indo-European Languages, University of Oslo
11. ^ De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be, p. Mt 9:9