mission

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɪʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French mission and directly borrowed from Latin missiō (“act of sending; release; discharge from service”) (accusative missiōnem),^[2][3][4] from missus, past participle of mittere (“to let go, send, throw”),^[2][5] which is of uncertain origin;^[3] de Vaan traces it to Proto-Indo-European *m(e)ith- (“to exchange, remove”), from which the meaning developed to “give, bring” and “let go, send”.^[2] Merriam-Webster takes it partly from Medieval Latin missiō “task with which one is charged” and New Latin missiō “ministry commissioned by a religious organization”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sending of Jesuits abroad on missions: 1598 in the OED,^[6] the 1590s in Etymonline.^[2] Barnhart has the general sense, a sending on special work, an errand, from 1598.^[3]

Semantic evolution

A sending or being sent to perform a service, in theology the sending of the Son or the Holy Spirit, is from 1609.^[6][4] A body of persons sent abroad, as diplomats, is from the 1620s, and a religious mission for the conversion of non-Christians from 1622, both first in Bacon.^[2][3][6] A missionary post or station is from 1769,^[2][3] and in American English a permanent embassy from 1805.^[6][2] The general sense, the thing one is sent to do, is from the 1670s, and a person's purpose in life, as in a man on a mission, by 1805.^[2][4] The dispatch of an aircraft on a military operation is American English by 1929,^[2] extended to spacecraft in 1962, hence mission control (1964).^[2] Missionary is from 1656 as a noun and 1644 as an adjective.^[3] The verb, “to send on a mission”, is from 1692.^[5]

Timeline

• 1598 – a sending abroad, of Jesuits.^[6][3]
• 1609 – a sending to perform a service.^[6]
• 1622 – a religious mission.^[6][3]
• 1626 – a diplomatic mission.^[6][3]
• 1656 – missionary.^[3]
• 1670s – one's assigned task.^[2]
• 1769 – a missionary station.^[2][3]
• 1805 – one's calling in life.^[2]
• 1929 – a military flight.^[2]
• 1962 – a spaceflight.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A special task or duty that a person or group is sent to carry out; an assignment.
2. A group of people sent abroad, as diplomats or missionaries, or their permanent office; an embassy.
3. An organization or station for spreading a religion or doing charitable work.
4. A person's chief purpose or vocation in life.
5. A military operation, especially a combat flight; a spaceflight.

Verb

1. To send on a mission.

Word family

• missional
• missionize
• submission
• intermission
• intromission
• permission
• remission
• transmission

Related words

• mess
• message
• messenger
• missile
• missionary
• missive
• admit
• admission
• admissible
• commit
• commission
• demit
• demission
• emit
• emission
• intermit
• manumit
• manumission
• omit
• permit
• premise
• pretermit
• promise
• remit
• submit
• surmise
• transmit
• mass
• dismiss

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 n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press