When/why/how did the term, seed come to mean rank in certain athletic competitions? The term makes me think the "top seeded players" should hire themselves out for stud service, but I doubt "seed" in this sense is from semen.

The OED offers these definitions: "seed, n. ... 3. Sport, esp. Lawn Tennis. [f. sense 11 of the vb.] One of a number of seeded players in a tournament." and "seed, v. ... 11. Sport, esp. Lawn Tennis. To assign (to several of the better competitors) a position in an ordered list, so that those most highly ranked do not meet until the later stages of an elimination competition; to arrange (a draw or event) to this end. Cf. SEED n. 3. orig. U.S.". First citations are 1933 for the noun and 1898 for the verb senses respectively. I'd never heard it before, but then I am not much into sports.

The only seeded athletes once needs to worry about those in the NBA.

Roy Blount, Jr., in his book Alphabet Juice, recounts his dealings with Wilt Chamberlain, who claimed in his book to have had sex with 20,000 women within a short period of time. Blount figured out that meant Wilt had sex with at least nine different women every week. When he pointed this out to Chamberlain, Wilt said, "There was a party."

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Originally posted by zmježd:
I'd never heard it before, but then I am not much into sports.

Same here, hence my query.

I had heard about the exploits of Chamberlain, but suspect he added an errant zero to his tallywhacker's tally.

It's a great question, Geoff. In many sports the term is used, and yet it's hard to see why. Here's the etymology:

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O.E. sed, sæd, from P.Gmc. *sædis, *sæda- (cf. O.N. sað, O.S. sad, O.Fris. sed, M.Du. saet, O.H.G. sat, Ger. Saat), from root *sæ- "to sow," from PIE base *se- "to sow" (see sow (v.)). Meaning "offspring, progeny"

I suppose "seeding" in sports is like a family tree (hence "offspring"), which could be the reason. Hard to figure, though.

I first noticed seed being used in sports a couple years ago and I wondered what it meant, but I never bothered to look it up. I have now, though, and below are three explanations, pretty much all the same. The first two note that seated and seeded often sound alike, so "top-seeded athlete" may sound like "top-seated athlete." They also point out the PIE root se- "to sow" spawned semen in Latin and incorporated into English.

alphadictionary.com

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A truly interesting semantic development is the term "seed" used in the language of sports (Meaning 3 above). It was first used in tennis and is based on the idea of laying out a tournament ladder using slips of paper to spread out the names of players the way seeds or seedlings are arranged, but in a way that keeps the best players apart until the later matches (a quite creative and useful analogy).

yourdictionary.com

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A truly interesting semantic development is the term "seed", used exclusively in sports language. "To seed" (and the associated noun "seed") refers to the arrangement of contestants in a tournament so that the more skilled participants are likely to meet in the later rounds. It is based on the idea of scattering (sowing) seeds, but in an orderly way, that is, arranging them. Thus the "seeds" in a tournament are arranged in an orderly fashion.

This source also contains the following penultimate sentence. Can anybody interpret?

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Plants, shabby Your Ad Here! and sports teams, all characterized by the same ancient word form.

Wikipedia

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A seed is a preliminary ranking that can be used in arranging a sports tournament. It is called a seed because of the analogy with plants where the seed might grow into a top rank at the end of that tournament, or might instead wither away. Players/teams are 'planted' into the bracket in a manner that is typically intended so that the best don't meet until later in the competition.

I just finished reading a book about another kind of seeds: An Orchard Invisible: A Natural History of Seeds, by Jonathan Silvertown. The book is fascinating in some places and not so much in others. But he did print part of Botany, a 1929 poem by Berton Braley:

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There should be no monotony
In studying your botany;
It helps to train
And spur the brain--
Unless you haven't gotany.

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A couple of people so far give the impression that they haven't known the word for very long. I wonder f this is a US/UK difference because, while I have no idea of the etymology, the word is entirely commonplace here in the UK. I can't remember not knowing it. Perhaps it's because of Wimbledon.

I'm sure the word is commonplace over here in the States, too. It's just that I don't pay much attention to sports. I may have heard the word as "seated" and not paid much attention, since "seated" would imply a rank to me. It's only when I heard "seed" that I began to wonder.

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A couple of people so far give the impression that they haven't known the word for very long. I wonder f this is a US/UK difference because, while I have no idea of the etymology, the word is entirely commonplace here in the UK. I can't remember not knowing it. Perhaps it's because of Wimbledon.

I've been surprised by that, too, Bob. It's not a US/UK difference. It's used commonly here in many sports and not just Wimbledon. I realize many on this board aren't into sports, but I'd still think the word would be known...and have been known for a long time. I guess I am wrong about that. (Where is Wordmatic when we need her? )

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I just finished reading a book about another kind of seeds: An Orchard Invisible: A Natural History of Seeds, by Jonathan Silvertown.

I need to post some pictures from our trip to Portland, but Shu and I met with Geoff and Tinman, who came down from Seattle. I love meeting people from our board because you learn so much more about them. Tinman, we found, has a forestry degree and knows a whole lot about trees, plants, and the like. He and Shu had a great time going to an arboretum and some gardens. So I am not surprised you're reading a book on seeds, Tinman.

The "top seated" and "top seeded" make one think that "seeded" could be a mondegreen. However, since, as z said, seeding (as a verb) is cited in the OED from 1898, that's likely not the case. Interestingly, "seated" is not cited that way in the OED. However, this entry relates seed to seat; here is an OED entry on seat, as a verb:

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d. Of a seed or fruit (with transferred notion of sense 2): To be fixed on something, or in a particular place.
1857 T. MOORE Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3) 8 The part of the vein on which the sorus is seated is called the receptacle. 1882-4 COOKE Brit. Fresh-w. Algæ I. 175 Dwarf males seated upon or about the oogonia.

and here it talks about seating, meaning to plant with inhabitants:

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{dag}6. trans. To ‘plant’ with inhabitants, people, settle (a country). Obs. (App. N. Amer.)
1684 in Pennsylv. Arch. I. 85 Vpon Lands not Seated before in ye Dukes Time. 1776 C. CARROLL Jrnl. Vis. Canada in B. Mayer Mem. (1845) 78 The country on each side of the St. Lawrence is level, rich, and thickly seated; indeed, so thickly seated, that the houses form almost one continued row. 1784 WASHINGTON Writ. 1891 X. 366 To see these lands seated by particular societies.

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