remit

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English remitten,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin remittō (“to send back, slacken, let go, give up, forgive”),^{[5][4][6][7][8]} formed from re- (“back”) and mittō (“to send, let go”).^[4][6][9][8] The Latin verb is also the source of remission and remiss,^[10][9] and the verb mittō is behind mission.^[4][6] Merriam-Webster traces the Latin verb further to the root of smite.^[7] The noun remit is formed from the verb by conversion.^[5][8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give up or surrender a right, claim or possession: 1379, in a Scots text.^[5] Barnhart's first record is in the Rolls of Parliament of 1393–94, with the senses "to forgive" and "to give up",^[6][11] and Etymonline dates the sense "to forgive, pardon" to the late 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that in English the secondary senses of the Latin verb, rather than "to send back", have prevailed.^[4] The earliest uses are legal and moral: giving up a claim, forgoing a payment (1405) or a punishment (1484), and forgiving sins (1457).^[5] A second group of senses, from 1394, concerns slackening: to moderate one's anger, to abandon a pursuit (1587), and intransitively to abate or diminish,^[5][8] a sense still used in medicine of a disease that eases.^[8][12] The idea of sending appears in the sense "to refer a matter to another authority for a decision", from about 1400,^[4][6] and in Middle English the verb could also mean to send someone back to prison.^[2][4] The commercial sense, to send money in payment, is recorded from 1640, according to Barnhart,^[6][11] or the 1630s, according to Etymonline;^[4] from it came remittance in 1705, in Addison.^[6] Johnson (1755) listed "to relax; to make less intense" first and "to forgive" second.^[13] The noun was first a Scots word for a pardon (1490),^[5][2] then the referral of a matter to another authority (1650),^[5][8] and since 1877, chiefly in Britain, a set of instructions or an area of responsibility, as in within one's remit.^[5][8] The Oxford Dictionary of English dates this noun to the early 20th century.^[14] In New Zealand a remit is a motion put to a meeting or conference (1902).^[5][8] The OED notes that 19th-century dictionaries give only the stress on the second syllable for the noun.^[5]

Timeline

• 1379 – to give up or surrender a right or possession.^[5]
• 1394 – to moderate anger or displeasure.^[5] Barnhart dates the senses to forgive and to give up to 1393–94.^[6]
• c. 1400 – to refer a matter to another person or body for decision.^[4][6]
• 1405 – to refrain from exacting a payment.^[5]
• 1457 – to forgive a sin or offence.^[5]
• 1484 – to cancel or reduce a punishment.^[5]
• 1490 – noun, a pardon (chiefly Scottish, now obsolete).^[5]
• 1640 – to send money in payment.^[6] Etymonline dates it to the 1630s.^[4]
• 1650 – noun, the referral of a matter or a case to another authority.^[5]
• 1877 – noun, a brief or area of responsibility.^[5]
• 1902 – noun, an item submitted to a meeting (chiefly New Zealand).^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To send money in payment, especially by post or bank transfer: Please remit the balance within thirty days.^[12][7]
2. To cancel or refrain from exacting a debt, penalty or punishment: The court remitted the remainder of the fine.^[12][5]
3. To forgive or pardon a sin or offence.^[7][5] Collins labels this sense archaic.^[12]
4. (law) To send back a case to a lower court for further consideration.^[12][8]
5. To refer a matter to another person or authority for a decision.^[7][8][5]
6. To slacken or ease, or to make less intense; of a disease, to abate: The fever remitted after a week.^[12][8]
7. To postpone or put off.^[12][9]
8. (obsolete) To set a person free; to release.^[7][5][8]

Noun

1. (chiefly British) The task or area of responsibility given to a person or body: Housing policy falls outside the committee's remit.^[5][8]
2. A matter referred to another person or authority for a decision.^[7][5]
3. (chiefly New Zealand) An item put forward for discussion at a meeting or conference.^[5][8]

Word family

• remittable
• remitter
• remittal
• remittance
• remittee
• unremitted

Related words

• remission
• remittent
• mission
• remiss
• emit
• submit

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press