sedeo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈsɛ.de.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsɛː.de.o]^[1]

Forms

sedeō (present infinitive sedēre, perfect active sēdī, supine sessum); second conjugation, impersonal in the passive^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sed-ē- (“to be seated”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sed-eh₁- (“to be seated”), a stative verb also found in Sabellic.^[2][1] From the same root come sēdēs “seat”, sella “chair” and sēdāre “to settle, calm”.^[2]

Cognate with Umbrian sersitu (“let him sit”),^[2] and with Old Irish saidid (“sits”), Ancient Greek ἕζομαι (hézomai, “to sit down”), Lithuanian sėdė́ti (“to sit”), Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (sitan, “to sit”) and English sit.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus onwards,^[2] whose character is told “stay here and sit until you see me come home”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant to sit, of people and of birds perching.^[3] It was used of magistrates and judges sitting in office, of armies encamped or lying in ambush, and of peoples settled in a land.^[3] Things were said to sit or rest in place.^[3]

It meant to sit idle, as in Terence and Cicero, and to stay still.^[3] Things came to rest or lodged somewhere, a feeling became fixed in the heart, and a decision was settled, as in Virgil.^[3] It also meant to sink or subside, and to lie low or flat.^[3] It survives as Italian sedere, Romanian ședea and French seoir, and in Medieval Ibero-Romance Latin it could mean “to be”.^[1] English session, sediment and preside come from it.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for sitting and for an army encamped.^[3][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for sitting idle at home.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Marius sitting in court.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a settled decision.^[3][5]
• late 14th century – English session is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sit, be seated, (of birds) to perch.^[3][6]
2. To sit (as a judge or magistrate).^[3][1]
3. (of an army) To be encamped; to lie in ambush.^[3][1]
4. To be settled (in a land).^[3]
5. To rest, lie (in a place).^[3]
6. To sit idle; to stay.^[3][1]
7. To come to rest, lodge.^[3]
8. To become fixed; to be resolved.^[3][1]
9. To sink, subside.^[3][1]

Word family

• assideō
• circumsedeō
• circumsideō
• dēsideō
• dissideō
• insessus
• īnsideō
• obses
• obsideō
• persedeō

Related words

• solium
• sēdēs
• sella
• English session
• English sediment
• English preside
• English sit

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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press