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DataMan62 t1_jd1vtvk wrote

Reply to comment by prpslydistracted in The men's Sweet 16 field since 2000 visualized as the sum of total seeds [OC] by Roadkill_Bingo

They use the term seed in professional tennis, NFL playoffs and just about any sports tournaments where they have an estimate of the strength of teams or players and want to give the best teams the best chance they can of meeting each other in the final rounds.

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prpslydistracted t1_jd2c24k wrote

I know ... but why seed?

We all know what it means. But normally one can trace the evolution of terms in language but with such a commonly used word this one doesn't follow. https://www.merriam-webster.com/ mentions an athlete being top "seeded" but not the origin of the term. https://www.dictionary.com/ only relates to the obvious in biology.

Example; the word slave can be traced back to the Middle Ages to Slavic, when central Europeans were traded as slaves.

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Guava7 t1_jd2mu4w wrote

I'm going to guess that it is a literal reference from ye olde years ago. Suspect that square racquet lawn tennis or jousting stick iron boys competitions paired up into matches by pulling numbered seeds out of an opaque cloth bag. At some point, some bespectacled enthusiast might have suggested that competitors with more success than others deserved a higher ranking on a matching tree and "seeds" were carried over as the non-clementure.

*citation required...I completely guessed this

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prpslydistracted t1_jd2n65o wrote

Your thoughts might be closer to actual history than anything I've read. Now I have starting point. ;-)

Hate it when things like this gnaw at me ....

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DataMan62 t1_jdtrnzd wrote

If only you asked the web instead of other idiots like us …. “The term was first used in tennis, and is based on the idea of laying out a tournament ladder by arranging slips of paper with the names of players on them the way seeds or seedlings are arranged in a garden: smaller plants up front, larger ones behind.”

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prpslydistracted t1_jdtvnda wrote

As many times I asked that of the web ... never got close to an answer. I'll look deeper at your answer but it truly sounds like the real deal ...

Thanks for the input. This has bugged me for years.

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DataMan62 t1_je8loy5 wrote

I searched for “tournament seed etymology”. Not sure of the order of those three words and it suggested seeding rather than seed.

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DataMan62 t1_je8m5o5 wrote

I actually found a slight more satisfying answer, but I lost it before I posted that one. The other one said something about distributing seeds evenly around the garden. This language about ordering them in front and behind is less like what seeding actually is.

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