siege English · revision 15117

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=probably before 1200|origins=la sedeō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /siːdʒ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|sege]], [[bor|fro|sege|t=seat, throne]] (modern [[fr|siège]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[la-vul|*sedicum|t=seat]], from an unattested verb [[m|la-vul|*sedicō|t=to sit, settle]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[la|sedeō|t=to sit]] (see [[sit]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[ine-pro|*sed-|t=to sit]].^(Etymonline) Hoad and the NODE take it from [[m|fro|asegier|t=to besiege]] (see [[besiege]]).^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A seat, especially one used by a person of rank; a throne: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The military sense, an army settled before a town to take it, is probably from before 1300; the notion is of the army “sitting down” before the place.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Trench notes that the word once also meant a seat, as in Wycliffe's “the sege of his majeste” and in Spenser.^(Trench 1859) The old sense survives in ''Siege Perilous'', the empty seat at King Arthur's Round Table (about 1230).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Middle English also used siege for a privy (about 1400), and the 16th century for excrement.^(Etymonline) A group of herons is a siege from about 1452.^(OED 1989) The verb is probably from before 1300.^(Barnhart 1988) On the Isle of Wight, Siege of Troy was a boys' game.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * probably before 1200 – a seat, throne.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1230 – Siege Perilous.^(OED 1989)

+ * probably before 1300 – a military siege; to siege.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1400 – a privy.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1452 – a siege of herons.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The surrounding and blockading of a town or fortress by an army trying to capture it.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A persistent attempt to gain something.^(Collins 2023)

+ # A long, wearing period, as of illness.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' A seat or throne.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''lay siege to'': to [[besiege]].^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To besiege or assail.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[siegeable]]

+ * [[besiege]]

+ * [[siege mentality]]

+ * [[Siege Perilous]]

+ * [[siege piece]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sit]]

+ * [[see]]

+ * [[sedentary]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}