Etymologically
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transmission

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /trænzˈmɪʃ.ən/, /trɑːnzˈmɪʃ.ən/, US /trænzˈmɪʃ.ən/, /trænˈsmɪʃ.ən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin trānsmissiō (“a sending over or across, passage”) (accusative transmissionem),[2][3][4] perhaps also through Old French transmission,[3] a noun of action from trānsmissus, the past participle of trānsmittere (“to send over or across”) (see transmit),[2][3] from trans- and mittere “to send” (see mission).[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Conveyance or transfer from one person or place to another: 1611, in Florio's dictionary.[3][7][4]

Semantic evolution

By the mid-18th century it was used of the communication of information.[2] In physics, the passage of light or heat through a medium is from 1704,[2][7] later extended to radio, by 1907, and electronic signals.[2][3] In biology, heredity, the passing on of characters to offspring, is from 1871.[2][7] The transference of motive force is from 1906 in the OED,[7] and the part of a motor vehicle that carries power from the engine to the axle, the gearbox, from 1894.[3][2] Transmission lines for high-voltage electricity are from 1906.[3]

Timeline

  • 1611 – conveyance, transfer.[3][7]
  • 1704 – of light or heat.[2][7]
  • 1871 – heredity.[2][7]
  • 1894 – a car's transmission.[3][2]
  • 1906 – transmission line.[3]
  • 1907 – a radio transmission.[3][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of passing something on, such as a disease or information.
  2. A broadcast, or the sending out of radio or television signals.
  3. The system of gears that carries power from a vehicle's engine to its wheels; a gearbox.
  4. The passage of light, heat or sound through a medium.

Word family

  • transmissive
  • transmissivity
  • transmissively
  • transmissiveness
  • neurotransmission
  • nontransmission
  • pretransmission
  • retransmission
  • transmissible
  • transmit
  • transmitter
  • mission
  • emission
  • admission
  • trans-

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 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press