'Subsidy' is Latin for 'reserve troops sitting in support' — money held in readiness, from 'sedere' (to sit).
A sum of money granted by the state or a public body to assist an industry or business, or to keep the price of a commodity or service low.
From Anglo-Norman French 'subsidie,' from Latin 'subsidium' (help, aid, support, reserve troops), from 'subsidēre' (to sit down, to settle, to remain in reserve), from 'sub-' (under, below, in support) + 'sedēre' (to sit). The original military meaning was a body of reserve troops sitting behind the front lines, ready to provide support. The financial sense — money held in reserve to support an activity — developed by metaphorical extension. Key roots: subsidium (Latin: "support, reserve"), sedēre (Latin: "to sit"), *sed- (Proto-Indo-European: "to sit").
The word 'subsidy' originally described reserve troops — soldiers 'sitting under' or behind the front lines, waiting to be called forward. Financial subsidies preserve this military metaphor: government money held in reserve, deployed to support a struggling industry or sector. The related word 'subside' (to settle down, to diminish) comes from the same root — when flood waters