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Origin and history of sequester

sequester(v.)

late 14c., sequestren, transitive, "remove (something), set aside; quarantine, isolate (someone); excommunicate;" also intransitive, "separate oneself from," from Old French sequestrer (14c.) and directly from Late Latin sequestrare "place in safekeeping, give up for safekeeping" in a transferred sense, "remove, separate;" from Latin sequester "trustee, mediator, the one into whose hands a thing was placed until the dispute was settled," noun use of an adjective meaning "intermediate," which probably is related to sequi "to follow" (from PIE root *sekw- (1) "to follow").

The legal meaning "seize by authority, confiscate" is attested from 1510s. The alternative verb sequestrate is early 15c. (Chauliac), from the Latin past participle sequestratus. Related: Sequestered; sequestering.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to sequester

sequestration(n.)

c. 1400, sequestracioun, "separation; banishment, exile," from Old French sequestracion and directly from Late Latin sequestrationem (nominative sequestratio) "a depositing, a sequestering," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin sequestrare "to place in safekeeping" (see sequester). By 1560s as "state of being sequestered." Compare Latin sequestratorium "place where anything is laid up for safe-keeping."

*sekw-(1)

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

It might form all or part of: associate; association; consequence; consequent; dissociate; ensue; execute; extrinsic; intrinsic; obsequious; persecute; persecution; prosecute; pursue; second (adj.) "next after first;" second (n.) "one-sixtieth of a minute;" sect; secundine; segue; sequacious; sequel; sequence; sequester; sociable; social; society; socio-; subsequent; sue; suit; suite; suitor; tocsin.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit sacate "accompanies, follows;" Avestan hacaiti, Greek hepesthai "to follow;" Latin sequi "to follow, come after," secundus "second, the following;" Lithuanian seku, sekti "to follow;" Old Irish sechim "I follow."

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    isolate
    "to set or place apart, to detach so as to make alone," by 1786, a back-formation from isolated (q.v.). The translation of this work is well performed, excepting that fault from which few translations are wholly exempt, and which is daily tending to corrupt our language, the ado
    attach
    mid-14c. (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), "to take or seize (property or goods) by law," a legal term, from Old French atachier "fasten; arrest" (11c.), earlier estachier "to attach, fix; stake up, support" (Modern French attacher, also compare Italian attaccare), from a- "to" (see ad-
    confiscate
    1550s, "to appropriate for or adjudge to be forfeit to the treasury," in reference to the goods or estate of a traitor or criminal, from Latin confiscatus, past participle of confiscare, from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + fiscus "public treasury," original
    change
    c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
    condemn
    early 14c., condempnen "to blame, censure;" mid-14c., "pronounce judgment against," from Old French condamner, condemner "to condemn" (11c.) and directly from Latin condemnare, condempnare "to sentence, doom, blame, disapprove," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an inte
    seize
    mid-13c., seisen, "take possession, take possession of" (land, goods, etc.) by force or authority, from Old French seisir "to take possession of, take by force; put in possession of, bestow upon" (Modern French saisir), from Late Latin sacire (8c.), which generally is held to be
    separate
    early 15c., separaten, transitive, "remove, detach completely; divide (something), sever the connection or association of," from Latin separatus, past participle of separare "to pull apart," from se- "apart" (see secret (n.)) + parare "make ready, prepare" (from PIE root *pere- (
    take
    Middle English taken, from late Old English tacan "to grip, seize by force, lay hold of," from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse taka "take, grasp, lay hold," past tense tok, past participle tekinn; also compare Swedish ta, past participle tagit). This is reconstructed to
    insulate
    1530s, "make into an island," from Late Latin insulatus "made like an island," from insula "island" (see isle). Sense of "place in an isolated situation, cause (someone or something) to be detached from surroundings" is from 1785. Electrical/chemical sense of "block from electric
    rapt
    late 14c., "carried away in an ecstatic trance," from Latin raptus, past participle of rapere "seize, carry off" (see rape (v.)). A figurative sense, the notion is of being "carried up into Heaven" (bodily or in a dream), as in a saint's vision. The Latin literal sense of "carrie

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