0868_sod page

E 0830 (TO) SIT, SITTING , SESSION

The words " to sit " and " sitting " are of Germanic origin .

The word " session " is, via Old French, of Latin origin .

H 0868 ד ו ס

Concept of root : session

Hebrew word		pronunciation				English meanings
ד ו ס		sod				session, meeting

Related English words				to sit ; session

Comparison between European words and Hebrew
Languages	Words		Pronunciation		English meanings		Similarity in roots
Hebrew	ד ו ס		sod		session, meeting		s (o) d
Greek	έδος ; έδρα - -		hedos ; hedra - -		seat ; seat, session, meeting		h . d < *s . d - -
Latin	sedere ; sessio, gen. sessionis		sedére; sessio sessione		to sit ; session, meeting		s . d
English	sitting, (session)				sitting; (session)		s . t
German	Sitz ; Sitzung -		zits; zitsung -		seat; session, meeting		z . t s
Dutch	zitting		zitting		seat, session, meeting		z . t
Russian	сиденье ; сидениє, заседание; поседение		sidenye ; sideniye zasedaniye; posedeniye		seat ; session, sitting; settlement		s (i) d ; s (e) d

Proto-Semitic SOD --- SĒD- Indo-European

In many languages we use a word, based on the concept of "to sit" to indicate a "meeting". In English we have "session" from Latin. Here we find a Hebrew word that has a root similar to Latin and Germanic words for "to sit" and "session", with the message of "meeting, session". We recall that "sitting" not necessarily means exactly the sitting on a chair or on the floor, but is used also in the sense of "settlement". We suspect that the Hebrew root of the word "sod" in this entry had comparable meanings in early times, before concentrating on that of "meeting, session".

Note:

Hebrew. The verb "sod" has also the meaning of "consult in whispers, secretly" and had so already in old times.

Probably this is due to the fact that meetings often are and were confidential or even secret.

Note:

Proto-Semitic. We have some interesting information for a hypothesis. Syriac has "ס ו ד א, sewada, " and "ס ו ו ד א, suwada " for " confidential speech" and Arabic "sawada" says "he spoke in secret". We see that the waw that in Hebrew "sod" is a vowel of the sound group "V W U O", in the other three languages is a consonant " W ". The root "*ס ו ד , S W D" may well have been present in Proto-Semitic in the Hebrew sense. In our comparison we stick to the Hebrew word of this entry, that may have existed as such in Proto-Semitic.

Note:

Latin and Hebrew. Latin has also a word with what seems exactly the same root and that also uses the vowel " O " as does Hebrew. That word is "sodalis" that says amongst other "person of the same league", and from there "friend , companion", but also "member of an association" or specifically "member of a secret society". A basic noun "*sod" must have existed, and its logical meaning would be identical to that of Hebrew "sod" : "meeting".

Some scholars see Latin "sodalis" as related to Greek "hodos = road", but this is a too limited and limiting hypothesis . Indeed the meaning is clear: "those who sit friendly together". No further etymology has been found, and the link to the words of this entry seems striking.

Note:

Latin in "sessio" has eliminated or better assimilated the original D of the root.

Note:

Greek also participates in the same culture. On the basis of the root "S (e) D", changed as often into "H(e)D", we have " hedos" for a "seat" with the verb "έζομαι , hezomai" for "to sit". This Z is a development from D, comparable to TH in English "the" and found in modern Greek pronunciation for any D.

To talk about a more official kind of seat, a word with an extra R was created, and this "edra" came to mean "session, meeting" as well. Further, with the prefix "sun" for "together" came the word "συνέδριον , sunedrion", still known as "Sanhedrin" in English.

Note:

Russian has a particular small distinction between "seat" and "session" as seen in the table.

Note:

German distinguishes the same way English does between "seat" and "sitting".

Note:

Proto-Germanic. In Germanic languages an extended root is found in words like Old Saxon "sethal", Old English, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch "sedel", Dutch "zetel" and German "Sessel" that all say "seat" in the sense of "object to sit on, chair". This final consonant "L" often may indicate a diminutive, but that is in this case not so. With the basic root Proto-Germanic probably already had "*S Ē T-", with a long vowel, though this may have developed out of an earlier "*S Ē D-" . The odd thing seems that Danish later "returned" to the "D" in "sæde", but this is as it did with the verb "side = to sit".

Note:

Indo-European For the concepts that in English are expressed by "to sit, to set, seat", some main elements of the picture are the following.

Old Indian offers "sádati = to sit", with a causative "sādayati", "sádas = seat" and "sáttar- = sitting down". The resulting "S A D-" may have an origin in "*S E D-".

Avestan has in some forms changed from " S " to " H ", a phenomenon very common in Greek. "had- = to sit down" and "hiðaiti = he sits". But "to set" = niyashadayam"

Greek "εζομαι‛, hezomai = to sit, to sit down" εδος‛, hedos = seat". Both come from an original basis "*S E D-".

Latin "sedeo, sedēre = to sit", "sido, sedi, sessum = to sit down, settle". The message is "*S E D-".

Germanic Proto-Germanic had "*S E T-".

Slavic has a.o. hypothesis of "*sēdēti, *sedjo, *sesti" , with Old Church Slavonic "sędo, sěsti" = to sit (down)" . Russian "сидеть, sidjetj = to sit".

Baltic with a hypothesis of "*sed-", but also "*sad-" gives Lithuanian "sëdu = to sit down" and "sedétu = to sit". Then "sodinù = to set".

Celtic supposedly has the two consonant combination " S . D", using as vowels "A, E, O". Old Irish has "suide" for "to sit, seat", with a diphthong " UI " developed out of " Ō ". Cymric "sedd = seat".

Indo European probably had "*S Ē D-".

Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 28/11/2012 at 12.45.46