Origin and history of siege

siege(n.)

early 13c., segge, "a seat, chair, stool; ceremonial seat of a king," senses now obsolete, from Old French siege, sege "seat, throne," from Vulgar Latin *sedicum "seat," from Latin sedere "to sit" (from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit").

The military sense, "the stationing of an attacking force before or around a fortified place; the act or process of besieging a city, castle, etc." is attested from c. 1300; the notion is of an army "sitting down" before a place.

The oldest sense preserved in archaic Siege Perilous (early 13c.), the vacant seat at Arthur's Round Table, according to prophecy to be occupied safely only by the knight destined to find the Grail. Also in Middle English "a privy, a latrine, chamber pot" (c. 1400), hence in 16c. "excrement, fecal matter; the anus."

also from early 13c.

Entries linking to siege

besiege(v.)

"lay siege to," c. 1300, from be- + siege. Related: Besieged; besieging.

*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."