desido

Forms

dēsīdō (present infinitive dēsīdere, perfect active dēsēdī or dēsīdī); third conjugation, no supine stem^[1] The perfect is dēsēdī or dēsīdī (Cato, Cicero).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + sīdō (“to sit down, settle”).^[2][4][1]

sīdō goes back to Proto-Italic *sizd-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *si-sd-e/o- (“to sit down”);^[5] its compounds are attested earlier than the simple verb.^[5] Cognate with Umbrian sistu, Sanskrit सीदति (sī́dati) and Ancient Greek ἵζω (hízō), all “to sit down”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cato on,^[5][4] who uses it of the dregs that settle at the bottom of wine.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of land sinking in earthquakes, Virgil of sinking into the depths as a wave withdraws, and Livy of ground that subsided into a great cavern;^[2][3] Varro notes that an empty egg floats while a full one sinks.^[3] Celsus uses it of urine sediment, of a swelling going down, of a blade sinking in, of hollows in the vertebrae, of sitting down in vinegar and of going to the lavatory.^[2][3] Statius uses it of mountains that seem to sink below one flying upward.^[2][3]

Livy, in the preface to his history, uses it figuratively of morals sinking as discipline gave way.^[2][3] Apuleius has Psyche sinking down onto her knees.^[2]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of dregs settling in wine.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of land sinking in earthquakes.^[2][3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of ground subsiding and of declining morals.^[2][3][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of sitting down and of going to the lavatory.^[2][6]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of sinking onto one's knees.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sink, subside, settle down;^[2][3] of a weapon, to go in; of a part of the body, to be depressed.^[2]
2. (figurative) To decline, deteriorate.^[3][2]
3. To sit down;^[2] to go to the lavatory.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 c d 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de