sedatus

Forms

sēdātus (feminine sēdāta, neuter sēdātum, comparative sēdātior, superlative sēdātissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect passive participle from Latin sēdō (“to settle, calm”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan explains the verb as a causative of sedeō (“to sit”), first “to make someone sit down”, hence “to appease”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus already has it in the Amphitruo, where a desire that is sedatus is a calm, restrained one: the sense “calm, untroubled”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It describes calm people, their mind and bearing,^[2][5] as in Livy's sedato gradu, “at an unhurried pace”,^[6][7] and Virgil's sedato corde, “with a calm heart”.^[6][7] Cicero uses it of a gently flowing river, as an image of a style,^[2][7] and of a settled, quieter time,^[2] and of an orator moderate in his use of prose rhythm.^[6] The superlative occurs in the Rhetorica ad Herennium (vox sedatissima).^[5][6]

English borrowed it as sedate.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a restrained desire.^[2][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a gently flowing river and of a calm period.^[2][9]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil writes sedato corde.^[6][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes sedato gradu.^[6][7]
• 1660s – English borrows it as sedate.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of a river) tranquil, gently flowing.^[2]
2. (of people, their mind or bearing) calm, composed, untroubled.^[2][5]
3. (of times or conditions) settled, calm.^[2]

Related words

• sedeō

Usage notes

A separate fourth-declension noun sēdātus (ablative sēdātū), “state of rest”, is found only in the grammarian Virgilius Maro, where it is opposed to war.^[6][5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de