English
omit
Omit comes from Latin omittō ‘to let go’, and goes back to mittō ‘to send’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CE*ommittōreconstructed
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEomittō‘to let go’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500omitten‘to omit’
- Englishearliest quotation 1988omit
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CE*ommittōreconstructed
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEomittō‘to let go’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500omitten‘to omit’
- Englishearliest quotation 1988omit
Earliest quotation: 1988, Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul: “She climbed out of the car and carefully omitted…”
The story
At least by 1422, from late Middle English omitten, borrowed from Latin omittō (‘to let go’), from ob- + mittō (‘to send’), but also had the connotations “to fail to perform” and “to neglect”.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘change’
mean, met, community, common, minister, minute, communication, meal, ministry, minor, menu, mutual, immune, mere, communist, communicate, min, compromise, ammunition, immunity, mole, minus, communism, municipality, mural, ammo, mayhem, communal, noodle, communion, moor, remuneration, commune, monolith, meiosis, minstrel, communiqué, mite, munition, mitosis, 71 more
through Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘exchange, remove’
message, miss, mad, mute, mutant, madden, mutate, transmutation, mutable, molt, commutative, misnomer, moult, commutation, 15 more
through Latin mītō
through Latin mittō ‘to send’
mission, mess, committee, admit, missile, premise, dismiss, commit, transmit, intermittent, permissive, emit, commissary, remiss, commissar, amit, missive, 33 more
through Latin omittō ‘to let go’
Today it means
verb To leave out or exclude.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin mittō / omit