Etymology
1. O.E.
sittan "to be seated, to seat oneself" (class V strong verb; past tense
sæt, pp.
seten), from P.Gmc.
*setjanan (cf. O.S.
sittian, O.N.
sitja, O.Fris.
sitta, M.Du.
sitten, Du.
zitten, O.H.G.
sizzan, Ger.
sitzen, Goth.
sitan), from PIE base
*sed- "to sit" (see sedentary). In ref. to a legislative assembly, from 1518. Meaning "to baby-sit" is recorded from 1966.
Sitting room first recorded 1771. Slang
sitting duck "easy target" first recorded 1944; lit. sense is from 1867 (it is considered not sporting to shoot at one).
Sitting pretty is from 1921. To
sit on one's hands was originally "to withhold applause" (1926); later, "to do nothing" (1959). To
sit around "be idle, do nothing" is 1915, Amer.Eng. To
sit out "not take part" is from 1626.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *sed-
4. Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
5. Proto-Indo-European *sédyeti
6. Proto-Germanic *sitjaną
7. Proto-West Germanic *sittjan
8. Old English sittan
9. Middle English sitten
10. English sit
11. From Middle English sitten, from Old English sittan, from Proto-West Germanic *sittjan, from Proto-Germanic *sitjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“sit”).
12. Cognates
13. Cognate with West Frisian sitte, Low German sitten, Dutch zitten, German sitzen, Swedish sitta, Norwegian Bokmål sitte, Norwegian Nynorsk sitja, Danish sidde, Faroese sita, Icelandic sitja; and with Irish suigh, Latin sedeo, Russian сиде́ть (sidétʹ). See: Old English '
sittan', Proto-Germanic '
*sitjaną', Low Saxon 'sitten', Dutch '
zitten', German, old spelling '
sitzen', Swedish '
sitta', Norwegian '
sitte', Norwegian, nynorsk '
sitja', Danish '
sidde', Faroese '
sita', Icelandic '
sitja', Irish '
suigh', Latin '
sedeo', Russian '
сиде́ть'.
Verbs referencing "sit"
Latin
sedeo, German, old spelling
sitzen, Esperanto
sidi, Norwegian, nynorsk
sitja, Low Saxon sitten, Norwegian
sitte, Lithuanian
sėdėti, Sanskrit
सीदति, Danish
sidde, Ido sidar, Luxembourgish
sëtzen.