sede

Forms

sede f (plural sedi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sēdēs (“seat, chair; dwelling, residence; site”), a learned word of administration and of the Church.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary instead treats it as inherited.^[1] DEI points out that the popular outcomes of the Latin word are Catalan seu and Portuguese sé, “episcopal see, cathedral”;^[5][6] Meyer-Lübke adds Old Lyonnais se and the Welsh loan swydd.^[5][6] Spanish sede is learned as in Italian.^[3][7]

The Latin noun belongs to sedeō (“to sit”).^[2][3][8] Wiktionary notes that Latin did not normally form nouns from verbs by lengthening the vowel, and that the long vowel recalls Proto-Germanic *sētiją (“seat”), with which it probably shares an origin.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT's first record, from before 1306, has the old sense “paradise”, the heavenly seat.^[4] DEI cites a form seda from a 13th-century Bolognese sirventese, and Petrarch (before 1374) uses sede for a dwelling or residence.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “seat, chair” appears in Firenzuola (1518–1525) but did not last; it survives in Church usage, where Santa Sede and Sede apostolica name the papal see and so the papacy and its government, recorded from the 16th century (Varchi, Bembo).^[2][5][9] Poetry kept sede celeste for heaven.^[9][10]

The main line of meaning runs from residence to the place where an authority works: the city or building of an office or body is recorded before 1595 (Tasso), the head office of a company in 1873, and a place hosting an activity, often for a time, in 1922.^[2] Medicine has used sede since 1733 for the part of the body where a disease starts.^[2][11] Today it also names a branch office, the place an employee is posted to, the proper place of a part, and in the phrase in sede di the context of a discussion.^[4][10]

Timeline

• 13th century – Seda appears in a Bolognese sirventese.^[5]
• Before 1306 – Sede is recorded with the sense “paradise”.^[4]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses sede for a dwelling.^[2]
• 1518–1525 – Firenzuola uses it for a seat or chair.^[2]
• 16th century – Santa Sede is recorded (Varchi, Bembo).^[5]
• Before 1595 – Tasso uses it for the place where an authority works.^[2]
• 1733 – Del Papa uses it for the seat of a disease.^[2]
• 1873 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the head office of a company.^[2]
• 1922 – The Zingarelli dictionary records a venue for an activity.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A place of residence, a dwelling, a home; also the territory where a people settles.^[4][12][13]
2. The headquarters of a body, office, association or firm: the city or building where its management and administration work.^[4][13] Phrases: sede centrale (head office), sede legale (registered office): L'associazione ha spostato la sede in centro.^[4][13][14]
3. A branch or local office of a firm, bank or public body.^[4][15]
4. The place to which an employee or official is posted: Ha chiesto di cambiare sede.^[4][15]
5. A venue: a place that hosts an activity, often for a time.^[4][12][10]
6. The proper place of an object or a part: Rimetti la batteria nella sua sede.^[4][10]
7. The place where a faculty or a disease is located: the brain as the seat of memory; in medicine, the part of the body affected by a disease.^[4][12][2]
8. The proper context or occasion for something: in sede di (during, at the stage of), in separata sede (separately, in private).^[4][10]
9. (Church) A see: the seat and jurisdiction of a bishop or the pope.^[13][9] Phrases: Santa Sede (the Holy See), sede vacante.^[13][9][1]
10. (liturgy) The part of the sanctuary reserved for the celebrant and ministers.^[4]
11. (linguistics) The part of a word where a phenomenon takes place, such as the syllable that carries the stress.^[4][1]

Related words

• sedere
• sedile
• Latin sēdēs
• Catalan seu

Usage notes

DEI lists a separate old séde, a form of sete “thirst”, from the 13th century.^[5] Wiktionary gives both /ˈsɛ.de/ and /ˈse.de/.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3439
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c d e Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier