Etymograph

English

sedate

Sedate comes from Latin sēdātus ‘calm, quiet, composed’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sed- ‘to sit’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sed-‘to sit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sedēōreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsedeō
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēdō‘to allay, appease, calm, settle’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēdātus‘calm, quiet, composed’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sedate‘not painful or sore’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1642same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sed-‘to sit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sedēōreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsedeō
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēdō‘to allay, appease, calm, settle’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēdātus‘calm, quiet, composed’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sedate‘not painful or sore’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1642same form

Earliest quotation: 1642, Richard Watson, A Sermon Touching Schisme: “[I]f they vvill raſhly huddle up all together, and…”

The story

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English sedate (‘not painful or sore’), and directly from its etymon Latin sēdātus (‘calm, quiet, composed’), participial adjective from sēdō (‘to allay, appease, calm, settle; to end, stop’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (‘to sit’).

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, soot, anode, beset, cathode, setter, chaise, besiege, salo, ersatz, nias, sate, polyhedron, nidal, 81 more

through Proto-Italic *sedēō

possession, obsession, assessor, presidente, assize, 24 more

through Latin sedeō

president, size, session, resident, siege, assess, reside, residue, residual, insidious, dissident, sediment, possessive, sedentary, sedan, obsess, presidio, presidium, séance, sessile, seance, 28 more

Today it means

adj Of a person or animal, or their behaviour: calm and composed (often in a dignified manner), and avoiding or unaffected by activity or excitement.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sed- / sedate

Shirt and support for this word