English
dismiss
Dismiss comes from Latin dimissus ‘sent away, dismissed, banished’, and goes back to mittō ‘to send’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittōas mittere‘to send’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīmittō‘send away, dismiss’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdimissus‘sent away, dismissed, banished’perfect passive participle of dīmittō
- Englishearliest quotation 1907dismiss
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittōas mittere‘to send’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīmittō‘send away, dismiss’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdimissus‘sent away, dismissed, banished’perfect passive participle of dīmittō
- Englishearliest quotation 1907dismiss
Earliest quotation: 1907, Robert William Chambers, New York: “He was here,” observed Drina composedly, “and father was…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘change’
mean, community, common, met, minute, communication, minister, meal, minor, menu, mutual, ministry, communicate, immune, communist, mere, min, ammunition, immunity, compromise, minus, municipality, communal, mole, communion, mural, ammo, mayhem, communism, noodle, moor, commune, remuneration, monolith, mite, minstrel, communiqué, munition, mitra, mitre, 71 more
through Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘exchange, remove’
message, mad, mute, mutant, madden, mutate, commutative, commutation, transmutation, mutable, molt, misnomer, moult, 16 more
through Latin mittō ‘to send’
committee, commission, admit, mess, mission, commit, missile, premise, transmit, intermittent, emit, omit, amit, commissary, permissive, commissar, remiss, missive, 33 more
Today it means
verb To discharge; to end the employment or service of.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin mittō / dismiss