permit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pəˈmɪt/, /ˈpɜːmɪt/ (UK); /pɚˈmɪt/, /ˈpɝmɪt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English permytten, borrowed from Latin permittere (“to let go, give up, allow”),^[2][3][4] perhaps partly through Middle French permetre,^[2][3] from per- (“through”) and mittere (“to let go, send”) (see mission).^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To resign or hand over: 1429 in Barnhart, a sense now obsolete;^[2][5] to allow, about 1475 in Barnhart and the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

To grant liberty or leave to a person is from the 16th century, 1514 in the OED.^[3][6] The absolute use, as in weather permitting, is from 1553.^[6] The noun, formal permission, is from the early 16th century,^[7][5] and a written order or licence from 1714.^[2][3] The noun is stressed on the first syllable and the verb on the second.^[8]

Timeline

• 1429 – to resign (obsolete).^[2]
• c. 1475 – to allow.^[2]
• 1553 – weather permitting.^[6]
• 1714 – a written permit.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To allow; to give permission for.
2. To make possible: if time permits.

Noun

1. An official document giving permission to do something; a licence.

Word family

• permittee
• permitter
• permittedly
• building permit

Related words

• permission
• mission
• permissive
• admit
• submit
• emit

Usage notes

MWU records a separate permit, a fish of the pompano family, by folk etymology from Spanish palometa (1884).^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press