permitir

Forms

permitir (first-person singular present permito, first-person singular preterite permití, past participle permitido)^[1] DEMel files a form permeten of 1264, from the documents of Daroca, under this verb.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin permittō (“to let go through; to allow”).^[3][4][1][5] Corominas dates it to 1438, and Vox places the borrowing in the 15th century.^[4][5] The Latin verb is formed from per- (“through”) and mittō (“to let go, send”), the verb that gave Spanish meter.^[6][1][7]

Its literal sense was “to send through, let loose”, as of cavalry launched against the enemy, from which came “to leave to someone, entrust” and “to allow”.^[6][8][9] The same Latin word was borrowed as Portuguese permitir, Catalan permetre, French permettre and Italian permettere; in French it was refashioned after mettre.^[1][10][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first clear record of the verb is in Juan Fernández de Heredia's Aragonese translation of Orosius (1376–1396): God non les permitio que aquellas cosas que auian domadas las obtuuiessen “did not allow them to keep the things they had conquered”.^[11] DICCA-XV dates its first record to 1415, and reports the CORDE's 1300 and the DCECH's 1490.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija gives Latin permitto for permitir and consentir.^[13] Covarrubias defines it as what is consented to and not contradicted.^[14] Autoridades distinguishes three senses: to consent to or tolerate a thing; to leave room or time for something, said of things that have no will of their own, as in mis ocupaciones no me permiten…; and, in theology, God's allowing of evil without willing it.^[15] The Academy's 1884 dictionary adds a sense from the schools and oratory: to grant a point as if true because it does not matter to the main question.^[16]

The pronominal permitirse “to take the liberty of; to afford” is a common formula of politeness, as in me permito recordarle….^[17][1] The noun permiso is first recorded in the 17th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1264 – an Aragonese permeten in documents from Daroca, filed under this verb by DEMel.^[2]
• 1376–1396 – Fernández de Heredia's translation of Orosius has permitio.^[11]
• 1438 – Corominas's date for the word.^[4][18]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin permitto.^[13]
• 1534 – the first record from the Americas, in Nicaragua.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records permission and permitido beside it.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades gives the theological sense of God permitting sin.^[15]
• 17th century – first record of the noun permiso.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of someone with authority, to allow or permit others to do or not to do something.^[3][1]
2. Not to prevent what could or should be prevented; to tolerate.^[3][15]
3. To make something possible: La lluvia no nos permitió salir.^[3][17]
4. (rhetoric, historical) In the old university faculties and in oratory, to grant something as true because it does not affect the main question.^[3][16]
5. (pronominal) To have the means or take the liberty to do or say something; to afford.^[3][1]

Related words

• permisible
• permisión
• permisivo
• permiso
• meter
• Latin permittō

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. permitir
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. permitir
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. meter
5. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. permitir
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. permitir
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. permitir
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. permettre
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2548
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. permitir
12. ^ 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. permitir
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 396
14. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1208
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 227
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 818
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. permitir
18. ^ 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. 443
19. ^ 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. permitir