sedia
Pronunciation
Forms
sedia f (plural sedie)[1] The older form Old Italian sieda (14th century, Cavalca) is still used in southern Tuscany;[2][3] seggia is archaic.[2][3]
Etymology
It is formed from sedere (“to sit”), most probably through the old form Old Italian sieda with metathesis of the ⟨i⟩.[2][4][3][5][6] GDLI also allows Late Latin seda as the source.[7] DEI compares the same shift in madia beside maida, and the opposite one in Tuscan pianere for paniere and bestiemma for bestemmia.[2] Meyer-Lübke lists this word and seggio among the outcomes of the Latin verb.[8]
The verb continues Latin sedeō (“to sit, be seated”), from Proto-Italic *sedē- and Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”); it is related to Ancient Greek ἕζομαι (hézomai, “to sit down”) and Lithuanian sėdė́ti, both meaning “to sit”.[9]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record, before 1292 in Bono Giamboni's Vizi e virtù, has the sense “seat, throne”.[10][4] The sense “chair” for a single person is in Giordano da Pisa's Lent sermons of 1305–1306.[10]
Semantic evolution
In Old Italian the word also meant a residence (Giovanni Villani), the seat of the blessed in heaven (Petrarch), and in Dante and Petrarch sedia apostolica was the papal see.[2][4] Phrases name the kinds of chair: the sedia curule of the Roman magistrates, the sedia gestatoria on which the pope was carried, with its bearers, the sediari (17th century), the sedia a dondolo “rocking chair”, the sedia a rotelle “wheelchair”, and the sedia elettrica, a calque of English electric chair.[11][3][2] In engineering a sedia is also the iron bracket that holds the bearings of a line shaft.[4] Ottoman Turkish borrowed the word, and modern Turkish has sedye.[1]
Timeline
- Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses sedia for a seat of authority.[10]
- 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for a chair.[10]
- 14th century – Cavalca has the older form sieda.[2]
- 17th century – Sediario, a bearer of the papal chair, is recorded.[2]
Meanings
Noun
- A chair, a seat for one person with legs and a back: Prendi una sedia e siediti vicino a me.[4][3][5]
- (archaic) A throne, a seat of authority.[4][5][11]
- (archaic) A residence, a seat.[4][5]
- (engineering) A fixed cast-iron support for the bearings of a transmission shaft.[4]
Word family
- sediario
- sediaio
- sediolo
Related words
Usage notes
Seggiola is a synonym.[3][5] Sedia a sdraio is a deckchair, sedia pieghevole a folding chair.[11][4]
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
- ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
- ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
- ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
- ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli