Etymologically
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commit

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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

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