Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Latin word emissus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Latin ēmittō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin emitto
Latin emissus
From the same root
Latin emissio ← emitto

Forms

ēmissus m (genitive ēmissūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēmittō (“to send out”) + -tus, an action noun formed on the stem of the past participle.[2][1][3] The base verb is built on mittō (“to send”),[4] which goes back to Proto-Italic *meit-e/o-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found only once in classical Latin, in Lucretius, of the tiny particles that are sent off from the surface of things: when they are thrown out, “nothing delays their emission”.[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The OLD treats it as an equivalent of ēmissiō, the usual word for a sending or throwing out,[2] and the TLL likewise refers to that noun.[5] Later dictionaries record no other author for it.[3][7][8]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of particles thrown off from objects.[2][5][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sending out, emission, discharge.[2][3][5]

Usage notes

The form ēmissus is far more often the past participle of ēmittō.[3][8] Niermeyer records a medieval adjective emissus meaning “deceitful”.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
Cite this entry

“Emissus.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/emissus. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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