commit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈmɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English committen, borrowed from Latin committere (“to unite, connect, bring together; to entrust; to perpetrate”),^[2][3][4][5] in Medieval Latin also “to put into custody”,^[6] from com- “with, together” (see com-) and mittere “to release, let go; to send”,^[2][3] as in mission.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give in charge, entrust: about 1386 in the OED, about 1390 in Chaucer in Barnhart.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the development of the modern senses in English is not entirely clear.^[2] To consign someone to custody, in prison or later in a mental institution, is from the early 15th century,^[2] 1467 in the OED with a prison named.^[7] The sense “to perpetrate a crime or do something wrong” was old in Latin and appears in English in the mid-15th century, 1449 in Barnhart.^[2][3] To trust oneself completely to something is from the 1530s,^[2][7] and to commit to writing from 1568.^[7] To involve oneself, or bind oneself by an irrevocable act, is from 1770,^[2] and Hoad dates the sense “engage, involve” to the 17th century.^[4] The intransitive use, in place of commit oneself, is by 1982, probably influenced by the existentialist sense of commitment (1948).^[2] Commitment meant the committing of a sin or crime in 1611 and a pledge from 1793, in Thomas Jefferson.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – to entrust.^[7]
• early 15th century – to consign to custody.^[2]
• 1449 – to perpetrate.^[3]
• 1530s – to trust oneself to.^[2]
• 1568 – commit to writing.^[7]
• 1770 – to bind oneself irrevocably.^[2]
• 1982 – to commit, intransitive.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To do something wrong or illegal: commit a crime.
2. To give into someone's care; to entrust.
3. To send someone officially to prison or a psychiatric hospital.
4. To pledge or bind oneself to a course of action or a cause.
5. To set aside money or resources for a purpose.
6. (commit to memory) To learn by heart.

Word family

• committable
• committer
• overcommit
• precommit
• recommit
• uncommit
• commitment

Related words

• commission
• committal
• committee
• noncommittal
• mission
• emit
• admit
• submit

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press