siège French · revision 15678

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland|origins=la sedeō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sjɛʒ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''siège''' ''m'' (plural sièges)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''siege'', ''sege'', ''saige''; written ''siege'' (1694), ''siége'' (1740–1835), ''siège'' from 1878.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|siege]], [[inh|la-vul|*sedicum]] or “*sedica”,^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|11, 409b) which supposes a verb [[m|la-vul|*sedicō]] formed from [[la|sedeō|t=to sit]], the source of [[seoir]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) Bloch and Wartburg point out that this verb cannot be seen in [[siéger]] (1611) or Old Occitan “setgar” “to besiege”, both derived from the noun.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Wiktionary also mentions a diminutive “sediculum”.^(Wiktionary) Latin “sedes” gave Old French “sied”, “sié” “seat, see”, used until the 16th century.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Compare [[pro|seïge]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Both main senses, “place where one is established” and “place where one sits”, are in the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100): Turpin promises the dying knights ''sieges'' in paradise.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is hard to tell which sense came first, and each gave new ones.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) From the seat of a person in authority (1119) came the royal seat, the judge's bench (1549), the bishop's see (''siège épiscopal'', 1690) and the seat of an institution or firm (''siège social'', 1936).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) As furniture, ''siège'' is any seat (Wace, 1160–1174), the seat of a saddle (1260) and of a car.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ The military sense, the camp of an army around a fortress, is also very old (1080), and the operations to take a place remain a living sense.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In literary use ''siège'' is also the seat or centre of something, as Descartes's “principal siège de l'âme”.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – A place, a seat (''Roland''); the siege of a town.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1119 – The seat of a person in authority.^(TLFi)

+ * 1160–1174 – A piece of furniture to sit on (Wace).^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1210 – ''Siege emperial'', the imperial throne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1549 – A judge's seat.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1611 – ''Siéger''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1936 – ''Siège social''.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|seat]] or chair; the seat of a vehicle.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|siege]].^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # The seat of an authority or business; [[m|en|headquarters]]: ''siège social''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(literary)'' The seat or centre of something.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[seoir]]

+ * [[siéger]]

+ * [[assiéger]]

+ * [[la|sedeō]]

+ * [[en|siege]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}