English
possession
Possession comes from Latin possessiō.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English possession
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “How long hath this possession held the man?”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpossessiōWiktionary, English possessionas possessiō
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1594possessionWiktionary, English possession. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “How long hath this possession held the man?”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with possession, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *sed- ‘to sit’
- set ← setten ← settan ← *sattjan ← *satjaną
- method ← methode ← methodus ← μέθοδος ← ὁδός
- sell ← selle ← selle ← sele ← sella
- chair ← chayere ← chaiere ← cathedra ← κᾰθέδρᾱ
- sitting ← sittinge ← sittende ← *sitjandz ← *sitjaną
- sit ← sitten ← sittan ← *sittjan ← *sitjaną
- seat ← sete ← sǣte ← sæti ← *sētiją
- settle ← setl ← *setlaz ← *sed-lo-
- nest ← *nestą ← *nisdós
- niche ← *nīdicāre ← nīdus ← *nizdos ← *nisdós
- saddle ← sadel ← sadol ← *sadul ← *sadulaz
- exodus ← ἔξοδος ← ὁδός ← *hodós ← *sodós
175 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun A control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “possession”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin possessiō / possession