English
sedan
Sedan may come from Italian sede ‘seat’.
- Italianc. 1300–presentsede‘seat’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1726sedan
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Italianc. 1300–presentsede‘seat’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1726sedan
Earliest quotation: 1726, Jonathan Swift, The Country Described. […]: “The People who had often heard of me, were…”
first attested The sense of "windowed chair" was first used by Sir Sanders Duncombe in 1634, possibly from a southern Italian dialect of Italian sede (“seat”), from Latin sedes (as stated in the etymology)
The story
The sense of "windowed chair" was first used by Sir Sanders Duncombe in 1634, possibly from a southern Italian dialect of Italian sede (‘seat’), from Latin sedes. The "motorcar" sense was first recorded in 1912 in North America.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sed- ‘to sit’
set, sit, sitting, method, chair, sell, seat, settle, nest, niche, possess, saddle, exodus, subsidy, nye, prasad, cathode, soot, beset, setter, sate, anode, chaise, besiege, ersatz, salo, nias, polyhedron, nidal, 80 more
through Proto-Italic *sedēō ‘to sit, to be sitting, to be seated’
possession, obsession, assessor, presidente, assize, 23 more
through Latin sedeō ‘to sit’
president, size, session, resident, assess, reside, residue, residual, insidious, dissident, sediment, possessive, sedentary, obsess, presidio, presidium, sedative, sessile, séance, sedate, seance, 27 more
through Latin sedes ‘seat, chair’
Today it means
noun An enclosed windowed chair suitable for a single occupant, carried by at least two porters, in equal numbers in front and behind, using wooden rails that passed through metal brackets on the sides of the chair.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Italian sede / sedan