sedimentum

Forms

sedimentum n (genitive sedimentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sedeō (“to sit, settle”) + -mentum.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 AD) uses it once, of the settling or sinking of a heavy mass, an obelisk.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word meant a subsidence,^[2] though Georges glosses it as a deposit.^[5] The modern sense of matter settling to the bottom of a liquid is that of French sédiment and English sediment, from the 1540s, especially in geology after the 1680s.^[6]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the sinking of an obelisk.^[2][3][4]
• 1540s – English sediment appears, from French and directly from Latin.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A settling, sinking down, subsidence.^[2][3][1]
2. A deposit, dregs.^[5][4]

Related words

• English sediment

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com