The story
- Latin · derived frompraesidēre“preside”
- Old French · derived frompresider
- English todaypreside
From Old French presider, from Latin praesidēre (“preside”), from pre- (“before”) + sedere (“to sit”). Displaced Old English foresittan, which might have been a calque of the Latin.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.