Etymologically
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sessio

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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

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