subsido

Forms

subsīdō (present infinitive subsīdere, perfect active subsēdī, supine subsessum); third conjugation^[1] Vitruvius has the perfect subsīdī.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- + sīdō (“to sit down, settle”).^[2][1] De Vaan derives ⟨sīdō⟩ from Proto-Italic *sizd-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *si-sd-e/o- (“to sit down”), cognate with Umbrian sistu (“let him sit down”), Sanskrit सीदति (sī́dati, “sits down”) and Ancient Greek ἵζω (hízō, “to sit down”); the compounds are attested earlier than the simple verb.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3][4] in a fragment quoted by Varro: “squat down, all of you, the way the triarii do”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is first to squat, crouch or kneel, and also to cower;^[2] Lucretius uses it of female animals in mating.^[2] Cicero has it of lying in wait, as Milo would have had to do if he were the plotter, and Virgil makes it transitive: the adulterer lay in wait for the conqueror of Asia.^[2] Varro uses it of settling in a place after wandering, of those who came to Rome and settled on the Saturnian hill.^[2] Of things it is to sink to the bottom and to subside: waves subside in Virgil, winds abate in Propertius, and in Seneca desire dies down.^[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of wealth coming to rest in certain hands.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “sit, sink, settle down, crouch”.^[6] English subside (1680s) is from it, first of objects sinking to the bottom.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of soldiers squatting down.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of settling in a place.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of lying in wait.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of waves subsiding.^[2][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a passion abating.^[2][4]
• 1680s – English subside.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To squat or crouch down;^[2][5][1] in genua subsīdere, to kneel; to cower.^[2][5][1]
2. To lie in wait, lie in ambush;^[2][1] (transitive) to lie in wait for.^[2][1]
3. To settle down in a place, stay put; of wealth, to come to rest with someone.^[2]
4. To sink to the bottom, settle; to sink below a surface.^[2][1][6]
5. To sink to a lower level, subside, give way; to slope downwards.^[2][1]
6. Of winds, fire and feelings, to abate, die down.^[2]

Word family

• subsessa
• subsessor
• subsīdentia
• subsidium

Related words

• sīdō
• English subside

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 f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com