A Seat Is a Chair, a Place and a Constituency
A seat is something to sit on. It also names a country house and a place in parliament.
A seat is something to sit on, and by extension a place, a position or a location of authority. That last sense is everywhere in English: a parliamentary *seat*, the *county seat*, a family *seat*, the *seat of government*, and the *see* of a bishop, from Latin *sedes*, a seat, entirely unrelated to the verb *see*. Authority has been described as a place to sit since antiquity — a throne is only a special chair. *Seat* is Old Norse *sæti*, from the same root as *sit*.
- Something to sit on. *A window seat.*
- A place in parliament. *A safe seat.*
- A country house. *The family seat.*
- A location of authority. *The seat of power.*
- Old Norse — *sæti*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | seat | A seat. |
| Verb | seat | Seating. |
| Adjective | seated | Seated. |
| Noun | seating | Seating. |
| Related | sit | To sit. |
- Take a seat.Furniture.
- She won the seat.Politics.
- The seat of government.Authority.
Authority as a place to sit
- See — a bishop's seat, from Latin *sedes*
- Cathedral — from *cathedra*, the bishop's chair
- Chair — of a committee, and to chair a meeting
- Throne — from Greek *thronos*, an elevated seat
- Sedentary — from the same Latin verb, to sit
Old Norse *sæti*, from the same Germanic root as *sit*.
Why is a bishop's district called a see?
From Latin sedes, a seat. It names the chair of authority, not the verb see.
Why is a cathedral called that?
From cathedra, the bishop's chair. A cathedral is the church containing it.