Etymograph

English

commissary

Commissary comes from Late Latin commissus ‘committed, having been committed’, and goes back to Latin mittō ‘to send’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcommittō‘to commit, entrust to’
  3. Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEcommissus‘committed, having been committed’past participle of committō
  4. Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEcommissarius
  5. Englishearliest quotation a. 1631commissary

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcommittō‘to commit, entrust to’
  3. Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEcommissus‘committed, having been committed’past participle of committō
  4. Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEcommissarius
  5. Englishearliest quotation a. 1631commissary

Earliest quotation: a. 1631, John Donne, The Progress of the Soul: “Great Deſtiny the Commiſſary of God”.

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *meitō ‘to put forth, put out’

remission, unremitting, 21 more

through Old Latin mītō

permission, transmission, admission, submission, emission, remit, omission, 23 more

through Latin mittō ‘to send’

admit, mission, mess, missile, transmit, premise, dismiss, intermittent, emit, amit, omit, permissive, remiss, missive, 36 more

through Late Latin committō ‘to commit, entrust to’

committee, 10 more

Today it means

noun A store primarily serving persons in an institution, most often soldiers or prisoners.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin mittō / commissary

Shirt and support for this word