sit
To rest with one's weight on the buttocks; to be seated.
Etymology
From Old English sittan, from Proto-Germanic *sitjaną, from PIE *sed- "to sit, to be seated." This root produced an enormous family: "seat," "settle," "sedan," "sediment," "session," "assess," "obsess," "possess," "preside," "reside," and through Greek: "cathedral" (kathedra = seat) and "chair."
The Journey: *sed- → sit
*sed-
*sitjaną
sittan
sitten
sit
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *sed-. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Greek | hédra (seat) |
| Latin | sedēre |
| Sanskrit | sī́dati |
| Old Irish | suide |
| Lithuanian | sėdėti |
| Old Church Slavonic | sěděti |
Did You Know?
A cathedral is literally a seat — from Greek kathedra "a sitting down" (kata- "down" + hedra "seat," from PIE *sed-). A "chairman" and a "cathedral" both trace back to the same concept: a place of sitting authority.
This word descends from the Proto-Indo-European root *sed-. See the full root page for descendant trees, sound law references, and scholarly discussion.