Etymograph

English

remission

Remission comes from Old French remission ‘forgiveness of sin’, from Late Latin remittō ‘to remit, send back’, and ultimately from Latin mittō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send, dispatch, cause to go, let go, release, discharge’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEremittō‘to remit, send back’
  3. Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEremissiō‘forgiveness’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400remission‘forgiveness of sin’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400same form
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500remissioun‘release from duty’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1543remission

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send, dispatch, cause to go, let go, release, discharge’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEremittō‘to remit, send back’
  3. Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEremissiō‘forgiveness’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400remission‘forgiveness of sin’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400same form
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500remissioun‘release from duty’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1543remission

Earliest quotation: 1543, Henry VIII of England, The Nynthe Article. The Holy Catholike Churche.: “Moreouer the perfit beleue of this article, worketh in…”

The story

Remittō is derived from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards’) + mittō (‘to cause to go; to send; to discharge, emit, let go, release; to throw; to extend, reach out; to announce, tell; to produce, yield; to attend, escort, guide; to dismiss, disregard; to end’) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (‘to change, exchange; to change places, go past’) or *(s)meyt- (‘to throw’)). The English word is cognate with Catalan remissió, Italian remissioni, remissione (‘remission; withdrawal of legal action; compliance, submission’), Old Occitan remessió, Portuguese remisson, remissão (‘pardon; remission’), Spanish remisión (‘remission’).

Linked words

through Old Latin mītō

commissariat, unremitting, 22 more

through Latin mittō ‘to send, dispatch, cause to go, let go,…’

committee, admit, mess, commit, commission, permission, transmission, transmit, missile, dismiss, admission, intermittent, submission, premise, omit, emit, amit, commissary, omission, commissar, permissive, missive, 28 more

through Late Latin remittō ‘to remit, send back’

remit, 2 more

Today it means

noun A pardon of a sin; (chiefly historical, also figuratively) the forgiveness of an offence, or relinquishment of a (legal) claim or a debt.

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

Etymograph / Latin mittō / remission

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