Etymologically
Log in

consido

This is an old revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 20:55. It may differ significantly from the current version. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Current version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [kõːˈsiː.doː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [konˈsiː.do][1]

Forms

cōnsīdō (present infinitive cōnsīdere, perfect active cōnsēdī or cōnsīdī, supine cōnsessum); third conjugation[1] The perfect is cōnsēdī, cōnsīdī appears in Ennius and in manuscripts of Livy, Tacitus and Gellius.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin con- + sīdō (“to sit down, settle”).[2][4][1] De Vaan traces sīdō to Proto-Italic *sizd-e/o- (“to sit down”) and Proto-Indo-European *si-sd-e/o- (“to sit down”), a reduplicated present of Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”), cognate with Sanskrit सीदति (sī́dati, “sits down”) and Ancient Greek ἵζω (hízō, “to sit down”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has multa bona in pectore cōnsīdunt, “many good qualities have their seat in the heart”.[2] De Vaan dates it from Varro.[5]

Semantic evolution

Cōnsīdere is “to sit down” (Cicero: cōnsēdit ille: conticuī, “he sat down, I fell silent”), of judges “to sit, hold court” (Caesar of the Druids), and in war “to take up position, encamp” (Caesar: the Nervii had encamped across the river).[2][3][1] Bees and birds “alight” (Cicero: a swarm settled on a horse's mane), ships “come to rest”, settlers “settle, make their home”, and qualities “lodge” in someone.[2][1] It is also “to sink, subside” (Cicero: let the Alps sink down), “to collapse”, “to sink into obscurity”, and of violent motion “to abate” (Ovid: ut mare cōnsīdat).[2]

Church Latin glosses it “to sit down together, hold council”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: multa bona in pectore cōnsīdunt.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: cōnsēdit ille: conticuī.[2][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar: the Nervii cōnsēdisse.[2][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid: ut mare cōnsīdat.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To sit down; to sit (as a court).[2][3][1][6]
  2. (military) To take up position, encamp.[2][1]
  3. To alight, come to rest; to settle.[2][1]
  4. To settle, make one's home; to lodge.[2][1]
  5. To sink, subside; to collapse.[2]
  6. To abate.[2]

Word family

  • cōnsessor
  • cōnsessus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de