misión

Forms

misión f (plural misiones)^[1] Old Spanish has mission, mision and, beside them, mession and messiones.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin missio (“a sending”), a learned word that Corominas dates to 1220–1250.^[3][4][1][5] The Latin noun is formed from mittō (“to let go, send”) with the suffix -tiō.^[6][1] The Latin verb is also the source of the popular Spanish verb meter.^[3][7]

In Medieval Latin the noun also meant “cost, expense”, and Old French borrowed it in that sense as Old French meission (1188–1500).^[8][9] The Old Spanish word had the same sense, and Catalan messió still means “expense; wager”.^[2][10] Nascentes calls Portuguese missão semi-learned.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hits in the CDH have the sense “expense, cost”: the Fuero de Madrid (in a copy of the first half of the 13th century) limits what may be given por toda la mission de la boda “for the whole cost of the wedding”, and the Fueros de Aragón of 1247 have a heading on missiones a son lays out for his father.^[12] Berceo uses missión in the same sense in the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236).^[12]

Semantic evolution

The sense “expense” was the usual one in the 13th century: Alfonso X's astrological Judizios (1254) speak of grant mission “great cost”.^[13][12] The DLE still lists it as obsolete, together with the old sense of the food allowance given to reapers.^[4]

The religious senses grew with the missionary orders: a record from Peru of 1572 speaks of las misiones pasadas, and one from Sinaloa of 1593 of esta misión de Sinaloa.^[14] The derivative misionero is of the early 17th century.^[3] In the 19th century purists objected to the spread of misión for “task, calling” (la misión del poeta): Baralt in 1855 called it a Gallicism that could be rendered encargo, comisión or incumbencia.^[15] The Academy's 1899 dictionary has the senses “act of sending”, “power given to someone to carry out a task” and the preaching journey of missionaries.^[16] Today it also names a diplomatic mission, a task one feels bound to perform, and a scientific or humanitarian expedition.^[4][17]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – the first date Corominas gives for the word.^[3]
• c. 1236 – Berceo uses missión for “cost”.^[12]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón speak of a son's missiones for his father.^[12]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas have grant mission “great expense”.^[13]
• 1572 – first record in the Americas, from Peru, in the missionary sense.^[14]
• early 17th century – the derivative misionero is first recorded.^[3]
• 1855 – Baralt criticises the use of misión for “task, calling” as a Gallicism.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of sending.^[4]
2. A mission, task: the power given to someone to go and carry out an assignment; a commission.^[4][1]
3. A temporary commission given by a government to a diplomat or special agent: una misión diplomática.^[4][17]
4. A task that a person or group feels called to fulfil: Creía que su misión era enseñar.^[17][18]
5. (Christianity) A preaching journey of missionaries from place to place or to other countries; a series of sermons preached on such a journey.^[4][1]
6. The house or church of the missionaries; the land or province where they preach.^[4][1]
7. (military) A tour of duty.^[1]
8. (obsolete) Expense, cost; the food allowance given to reapers for a certain amount of work.^[4]

Word family

• misionero
• misional

Related words

• meter
• misiva
• Latin missio
• Catalan messió
• Portuguese missão

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. misión
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. meter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. misión
5. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 442
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. misión
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. missio
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. mission
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. messió
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. missão
12. ^ 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. misión
13. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. misión
14. ^ 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. misión
15. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 441
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 664
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. misión
18. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 728