English
president
President comes from Latin praesidēns ‘presiding over’, and goes back to praesideō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraesideō‘preside over’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraesidēns‘presiding over’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400president
- Englishearliest quotation 1671president
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraesideō‘preside over’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraesidēns‘presiding over’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400president
- Englishearliest quotation 1671president
Earliest quotation: 1671, John Milton, The First Book: “His angels president / In every province.”
The story
The Latin word is the substantivized present active participle of the verb praesideō (‘preside over’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sed- ‘to sit’
set, sell, seat, method, chair, sitting, sit, settle, nest, niche, possess, saddle, exodus, nye, subsidy, soot, setter, beset, prasad, cathode, anode, chaise, sate, ersatz, salo, polyhedron, nias, besiege, nidal, 84 more
through Proto-Italic *sedēō ‘to sit, to be sitting, to be seated’
possession, obsession, assessor, assize, 27 more
through Latin sedeō ‘sit’
size, session, assess, siege, sedan, sediment, sedative, insidious, residual, possessive, residue, sedate, reside, obsess, sedentary, dissident, seance, séance, sessile, 30 more
Today it means
noun The head of state of a republic, sometimes also the head of government as well, particularly (US politics) the head of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States of America.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin praesideō / president