siedeln

German

Etymology

From Middle High German sidelen, from Old High German sidalen, derived from sidila (“seat”), which is cognate with Old English setl. Related with sitzen (“to sit”) and hence eventually related with English settle, but not a direct cognate of this latter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈziːdəln/

• Audio

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Verb

siedeln (weak, third-person singular present siedelt, past tense siedelte, past participle gesiedelt, auxiliary haben)

1. (intransitive) to settle (cultivate hitherto unoccupied areas; create a colony in foreign land)

   Mein Großvater war der erste, der in diesem Sumpfgebiet gesiedelt hat.

   My grandfather was the first to have settled in these wetlands.

2. (intransitive, of ethnic groups, animals also) to dwell; to nest; without the implication of a colony

   Die Ureinwohner siedelten vor allem entlang der Flussläufe.

   The original inhabitants had their settlements mainly along the rivers.

3. (transitive, obsolete) Alternative form of ansiedeln.

Usage notes

• As transitive verbs use besiedeln (“to settle a place”) and ansiedeln (“to settle people in a place”). The latter is also used reflexively in the general sense of “to move somewhere, settle down”, which the simplex siedeln almost never has.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading

• “siedeln” in Duden online
• “siedeln” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache