The Latin verbs sedeo, sedo, and sido are distantly related to our native English verbs sit and set. Latin also had related words with the stem sit. From these come many words relating to position, such as a building site or a situation.
The potential confusion between this root and the root ced, cede makes it worth while trying to learn which words use which root. If you do, it will help your spelling.
The idea of ‘sitting’ is often prominent in words derived from sedeo. A sedentary job involves a lot of sitting. A session is a ‘sitting’, as of a court, and so a single meeting of any organised group. The chairman might preside at this meeting, which means that he ‘sits in front’ of it. From this come words like president and presidential.
From ‘sitting’ it is a short way to the idea of ‘setting’ and from there to ‘relaxation’. A sediment is a deposit of solids that has settled at the bottom of a liquid. Someone who is sedate is easy-going and unruffled. This state can be achieved artificially by taking sedatives.
The place where you are settled is your residence. You reside there. Hence resident and residential. The word reside can also be used figuratively – the highest judicial power in Britain resides in the House of Lords.
Obsess, obsession, and obsessive, have the prefix ob-, meaning ‘in front of’. The original Latin word meant to ‘ambush’ or ‘besiege’. It is easy to see how an obsession might be thought of as something that ‘besieges’ someone.
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