text: what is the etymology of the term "number one seed" as in a tennis tournament?   seed (v.)      "to produce seed," c.1374; "to sow with seed," c.1440; from seed (n.). sporting (originally tennis) sense (1898) is from notion of spreading certain players' names so as to insure they will not meet early in a tournament. the noun in this sense is attested from 1933.