Etymology 1
Perfect passive participle of sinō (“put, lay, set down; usually let, suffer, permit”).
Participle
situs (feminine sita, neuter situm); first/second-declension participle
- permitted, allowed, suffered, having been permitted
- put, laid or set down, having been set down
- (by extension) placed, set, lying, situated, positioned, sited
- (by extension, of the dead) lying, laid, buried, interred
- (by extension) built, founded
- (figuratively) placed, situated, present, ready
- (figuratively) dependent upon
Etymology 2
According to de Vaan, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰgʷʰi-téw-s, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰgʷʰey- (“to decline, perish”).[1]
Noun
situs m (genitive sitūs); fourth declension
- Decay, rust, mould, mustiness, dust, dirt; soil.
- Filthiness of the body.
- (figuratively) Neglect, idleness, absence of use.
- (figuratively, of the mind) A rusting, moulding or wasting away, dullness, inactivity.
References
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “situs”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 568
- “situs”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “situs”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- situs in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- situs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- the situation of a place: situs loci
- to be favourably situated: opportuno loco situm or positum esse
- the city is very beautifully situated: urbs situ ad aspectum praeclara est
- the city is situate on a bay: urbs in sinu sita est
- here lies..: hic situs est...
- to depend upon a thing: positum, situm esse in aliqua re
- to be in a person's power: in manu, in potestate alicuius situm, positum esse
- to give a brief exposition of the geography of Africa: Africae situm paucis exponere
- (ambiguous) to suffer agonies of thirst: siti cruciari, premi
- situs in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
- “site”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.