The core idea of this root was
sitting
Today, the majority of members of the family are about a somewhat broader sense of “putting down”.
Here’s a little (incomplete) overview:
- to sit, seat (“sitting”)
- saddle (“seat”)
- to set (“putting down”)
- settle (“sitting down for camping”)
- soil (“where your settlement is”)
- session (“the sitting”)
- seance (“the sitting”)
- siege (“sitting in front”)
- sediment (“dust settling”)
- possess (“sit on”)
- obsess (“sit on, occupy”)
- sedate, sedative (“settling”)
- assist, assistent (Originally, a person sitting next to the judge)
- assess (see “assist”, originally an assistant responsible for determining fines)
- size (see “assess”)
- cathedral (Originally, it was a scholar’s chair, the root is the “thed”- part)
- chair (comes from cathedral)
