Subsidiary

Adjective

• serving to assist, auxiliary
• secondary in importance, subordinate

Noun

a company having more than half of its stock owned by another company

From Latin subsidiarius "belonging to the reserve"

•     from subsidium "the reserve troops" *
•     from subsidêre "to sit down in hiding"

  • SUB "under, down"

  • SEDÊRE "to sit"

1627  John Donne "In these subsidiary gods, these occasional gods, there could be no Onipotence, no Almightinesse."

*  subsidium dicebatur, quando milites subsidebant in extrema acie labentque aciei succurrebant. Festus

[It was called subsidium because the soldiers used to sit down (in hiding) at the end of the line of battle and come to the aid of a slipping line.]

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