sella

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈsɛl.la]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsɛl.la]^[1]

Forms

sella f (genitive sellae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sedlā (“seat”), from the root of sedeō “to sit”, Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”), with the suffix ⟨*-lā⟩; ⟨*-dl-⟩ became /ll/.^[2][3][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἕλλα (héllā, “seat”).^[1] Lewis & Short report an ancient form ⟨sedda⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a seat.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a seat for one person, a stool or chair, including the seat of craftsmen who worked sitting.^[3][6] Isidore explains the sella curūlis as the seat on which magistrates sat to give judgement.^[7] In Martial it was a sedan chair carried by slaves, and in Varro a privy seat.^[3]

It survives in Italian sella “saddle”, French selle, Spanish silla “chair” and Romanian șa, and English has borrowed it as sella in anatomy, for the sella turcica of the skull.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a seat.^[3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a privy seat.^[3][5]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a sedan chair.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seat, stool, chair, sella curūlis, a magistrate's chair of office.^[3][7]
2. A sedan chair.^[3]
3. A privy seat.^[3]

Word family

• sellāris
• sellārius
• sellisternium
• sellula
• arcisellium
• bisellium

Related words

• sedeō
• sēdēs
• sedīle
• English saddle

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).