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Origin and history of *sed-

*sed-(1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to sit."

It might form all or part of: assess; assiduous; assiento; assize; banshee; beset; cathedra; cathedral; chair; cosset; dissident; dodecahedron; Eisteddfod; ephedra; ephedrine; ersatz; icosahedron; inset; insidious; nest; niche; nick (n.) "notch, groove, slit;" nidicolous; nidification; nidus; obsess; octahedron; piezo-; piezoelectric; polyhedron; possess; preside; reside; saddle; sanhedrim; seance; seat; sedan; sedate; (adj.) "calm, quiet;" sedative; sedentary; sederunt; sediment; see (n.) "throne of a bishop, archbishop, or pope;" sessile; session; set (v.); sett; settle (n.); settle (v.); siege; sit; sitz-bath; sitzkrieg; size; soil (n.1) "earth, dirt;" Somerset; soot; subside; subsidy; supersede; surcease; tanist; tetrahedron; Upanishad.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit a-sadat "sat down," sidati "sits," nidah "resting place, nest;" Old Persian hadis "abode;" Greek ezesthai "to sit," hedra "seat, chair, face of a geometric solid;" Latin sedere "to sit; occupy an official seat, preside; sit still, remain; be fixed or settled," nidus "nest;" Old Irish suide "seat, sitting," net "nest;" Welsh sedd "seat," eistedd "sitting," nyth "nest;" Old Church Slavonic sežda, sedeti "to sit," sedlo "saddle," gnezdo "nest;" Lithuanian sėdėti "to sit;" Russian sad "garden," Lithuanian sodinti "to plant;" Gothic sitan, Old English sittan "to sit."

Entries linking to *sed-

assess(v.)

early 15c., "to fix the amount (of a tax, fine, etc.)," from Anglo-French assesser, from Medieval Latin assessare "fix a tax upon," originally frequentative of Latin assessus "a sitting by," past participle of assidere/adsidere "to sit beside" (and thus to assist in the office of a judge), "sit with in counsel or office," from ad "to" (see ad-) + sedere "to sit" (from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit").

One job of the judge's assistant was to fix the amount of a fine or tax. The meaning "to estimate the value of property for the purpose of taxing it" is from 1809; the transferred sense of "to judge the value of" (a person, idea, etc.) is from 1934. Related: Assessed; assessing.

assiduous(adj.)

"attentive, devoted, constant in application," 1530s, from Latin assiduus "attending; continually present, incessant; busy; constant," from assidere/adsidere "to sit down to, sit by" (thus "be constantly occupied" at one's work); from ad "to" (see ad-) + sedere "to sit" (from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit"). The word acquired a taint of "servile" in 18c. Related: Assiduously; assiduousness.

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assiento
1714, "contract between the King of Spain and another power," especially that made at the Peace of Utrecht, 1713, with Great Britain for furnishing African slaves to the Spanish colonies in the Americas (abrogated in 1750), from Spanish asiento, formerly assiento "a compact or tr
assize
"session of a law court," c. 1300 (attested from mid-12c. in Anglo-Latin), from Old French assise "session, sitting of a court" (12c.), noun use of fem. past participle of asseoir "to cause to sit," from Latin assidere/adsidere "to sit beside" (and thus to assist in the office of
banshee
in Irish folklore, a type of female fairy believed to foretell deaths by singing in a mournful, unearthly voice, 1771, from phonetic spelling of Irish bean sidhe "female of the Elves," from bean "woman" (from PIE root *gwen- "woman") + Irish sidhe (Gaelic sith) "fairy" or sid "fa
obsess
occupy; stay, remain, abide" literally "sit opposite to," from ob "against" (see ob-) + sedere "to sit," from PIE root *sed...
lucid
" (1580s) is from Medieval Latin lucida intervalla (plural), common in medieval legal documents (non est compos mentis, sed...
rebus
Or this use of the Latin word might be from the representations being non verbis sed rebus "not by words, but by things."...
seed
individual grain of seed," from Proto-Germanic *sediz "seed" (source also of Old Norse sað, Old Saxon sad, Old Frisian sed...
sonnet
1557 (in the title of Surrey's poems), from French sonnet (1540s) or directly from Italian sonetto, literally "little song," from Old Provençal sonet "song," diminutive of son "song, sound," from Latin sonus "sound" (from PIE root *swen- "to sound"). Originally in English and int
avail
c. 1300, availen, "to help (someone), assist; benefit, be profitable to; be for the advantage of; have force or efficacy, serve for a purpose," apparently an Anglo-French compound of Old French a- "to" (see ad-) + vaill-, present stem of valoir "be worth," from Latin valere "be s
contrite
"broken in spirit by a sense of guilt, conscience-stricken and resolved to not sin again," c. 1300, from Old French contrit (12c.) and directly from Latin contritus, literally "worn out, ground to pieces," in Late Latin "penitent," past participle of conterere "to grind," from as

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