English
possession
Possession comes from Latin possessiō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpossessiōas possessiō
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1594possession
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpossessiōas possessiō
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1594possession
Earliest quotation: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “How long hath this possession held the man?”
Formed from possess + -ion
Proto-Indo-European *sed- ‘to sit’
Proto-Indo-European *pótis ‘master’
Latin possessus ‘possessed’
Middle French possesser ‘to possess’
Middle English possessen ‘to have, own’
English possess
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sed- ‘to sit’
set, method, sell, chair, sitting, sit, seat, settle, nest, niche, saddle, exodus, subsidy, nye, prasad, cathode, soot, anode, setter, beset, sate, chaise, ersatz, salo, nidal, nias, besiege, polyhedron, 83 more
through Proto-Italic *sedēō ‘to sit, to be sitting, to be seated’
assessor, presidente, assize, 25 more
through Latin sedeō ‘to sit, to be seated’
president, size, resident, siege, assess, sedan, reside, sediment, residual, residue, obsession, sedentary, insidious, sedative, dissident, sedate, obsess, séance, seance, presidio, presidium, sessile, 27 more
Today it means
noun A control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin possessiō / possession