sessio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈsɛs.si.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsɛs.si.o]^[1]

Forms

sessiō f (genitive sessiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sedeo (“to sit”) + -tiō.^[2][1] Varro noted that a seat should have been sediculum from sitting, as cubiculum comes from lying.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, in On Duties, lists standing, walking, sitting and reclining among bodily postures.^[3][4] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was the action or state of sitting, and Lewis & Short call it Ciceronian.^[3][2] Concretely it was a seat or place to sit, as the seats of the gymnasia in Cicero.^[2][3] Cicero also uses it of a halt or pause, an idle sitting.^[4][1] Ulpian in the Digest uses it of a judicial sitting of the praetor.^[2][4] Augustine says walking is the medicine for sitting.^[6]

In medieval Latin it was a homestead, and a site for building a water mill.^[7] English session is recorded in the late 14th century for the sitting of a court.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro discusses the word.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of sitting and of seats.^[2][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a court sitting.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English session is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sitting, a sitting posture.^[2][3]
2. A seat, place to sit.^[2][4]
3. A pause, idle sitting.^[4][1]
4. A judicial session.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A homestead; a site for a mill.^[7]

Word family

• sessiuncula

Related words

• sedeō
• sessus
• English session

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com