A legal official who assesses property values or taxes; also called an assessor (modern spelling).
From Old French 'assesseour', derived from Latin 'assidere' (to sit by, assess) combining 'ad-' (to) and 'sedere' (to sit). The sense 'to assess' came from the idea of officials sitting together to judge value.
The fascinating root 'sedere' (to sit) appears in words like 'sediment,' 'sedentary,' and 'assess'—because Roman officials literally sat down together to make judgments, the very act of sitting became synonymous with making official decisions.
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