English
commit
Commit comes from Middle English committen ‘to commit, dedicate something to’, and goes back to Latin mittō ‘to send’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommittō‘to bring together, join, compare, commit (a wrong), incur, give in charge, etc’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500committen‘to commit, dedicate something to’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1588–1593commit
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommittō‘to bring together, join, compare, commit (a wrong), incur, give in charge, etc’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500committen‘to commit, dedicate something to’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1588–1593commit
Earliest quotation: c. 1588–1593, William Shakespeare, The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus: “Bid him farwell, commit him to the Graue”.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘change’
mean, met, minister, minute, community, meal, common, ministry, minor, menu, mutual, communication, mere, min, immune, communist, minus, communicate, mole, compromise, ammunition, municipality, immunity, mural, mayhem, noodle, moor, remuneration, communism, ammo, communal, communion, commune, monolith, minstrel, meiosis, mite, munition, mitosis, minuet, 72 more
through Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘exchange, remove’
message, miss, mad, mute, mutant, madden, mutate, transmutation, mutable, molt, misnomer, moult, commutative, commutation, 16 more
through Latin mittō ‘to send’
mission, mess, admit, missile, dismiss, premise, transmit, intermittent, emit, permissive, amit, remiss, omit, missive, 37 more
Today it means
verb To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to entrust; to consign; used with to or formerly unto.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin mittō / commit