comisión

Forms

comisión f (plural comisiones)^[1] Early texts spell it comission, commission and commissión.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin commissiō, from committō (“to bring together; to entrust, charge”).^[4][5][1][6] The verb is formed from con- and mittō (“to send”), and is also the source of cometer.^[1][4] In Classical Latin the noun meant the opening or holding of games and contests.^[7] Medieval Latin used it for a mission or mandate, and also for a lease, the forfeiture of a fief and a sinful deed.^[8] DICCA-XV derives it from comiso instead.^[9]

Other learned forms of the Latin noun are Portuguese comissão, Catalan comissió and French commission.^[10][11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's earliest record is comission in a Leonese document of 1291.^[2] The Fuero General de Navarra (1300–1330) orders someone to faga una comission to the treasurer, that is, give him a charge or mandate.^[3] In the Libro de buen amor a judge claims poder del rey en su comisión especial, “power from the king in his special commission”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a charge or task given to someone; the group of people charged with a matter and the fee paid for a commercial errand grew out of it by metonymy.^[13][4] Terreros defines it as power or authority given to someone for a time, or any charge or employment.^[14] The Academy's 1899 dictionary lists the act of committing, a written order and authority, a charge, and a body of people entrusted with a matter.^[15] The percentage paid to an agent on a sale is now its fifth sense in the DLE.^[5]

In the Americas the word is recorded from Mexico City in 1571, in comisión especial, and as juez de comisión in Venezuela and Bogotá.^[16] In Chile it named a fight between kites.^[17] Chile also has comisión civil for plainclothes police officers, and Cuba comisión de embullo for a committee that organises a festivity.^[18]

Timeline

• 1291 – comission in a Leonese document.^[2]
• 1300–1330 – the Fuero General de Navarra.^[3]
• 1330–1343 – the Libro de buen amor (in a copy of about 1415).^[3]
• 1438 – Corominas's first record, in the sense “charge, errand”.^[4]
• 1571 – first record in the Americas, at Mexico City.^[16]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros defines it as a temporary power or charge.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary includes the sense “body of people charged with a matter”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of committing a crime or sin: la comisión de un delito.^[5][1]
2. An order and authority given in writing to someone to carry out a task.^[5]
3. A task, errand or assignment given to someone.^[5][19][1]
4. A committee: a group of people appointed by law or by a body or authority to deal with a matter: La comisión se reunirá el lunes.^[5][19][1]
5. A commission: the percentage an agent receives on a sale or deal;^[5][1] trabajar a comisión, to work on commission.^[5][1]

Word family

• comisionar
• comisionista
• comisionado

Related words

• cometer
• comisario
• Latin commissio
• Portuguese comissão

Usage notes

Comisión de servicio is the temporary posting of an employee outside their usual job.^[5] The executive of the European Union is the Comisión Europea.^[5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. comisión
3. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. comisión
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. comisión
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. comisión
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 183
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. comisión
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. comissão
11. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. comissió
12. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 137
13. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. comisión
14. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 470
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 245
16. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. comisión
17. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 250
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. comisión
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. comisión