missio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɪs.si.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmis.si.o]^[1]

Forms

missiō f (genitive missiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mittō (“to let go, send”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] Mittō continues Old Latin mītō and Proto-Italic *meitō.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, in the Tusculan Disputations, speaks of what a captive gave in return for his release.^[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a letting go: release from captivity, and the discharge of soldiers or sailors from service, as in Cicero's Verrines and in Caesar.^[2][5] It also meant quarter or mercy.^[1] It also meant the sending of persons or things, as Cicero's sending of envoys or of letters, the shooting of missiles and their range in Vitruvius, and Suetonius' letting of blood.^[2][6][5] In law, missio in possessionem was admission to the possession of property.^[2][7]

In Christian and medieval Latin it meant a mission, an offering to the priest at Mass, costs, and a drove of animals.^[8][9] English mission is recorded in the 1590s, first of Jesuits sent abroad.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of release and of sending envoys.^[2][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of discharge.^[2][4]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the range of missiles.^[2][4]
• 1590s – English mission is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Release, liberation.^[2][1]
2. discharge from service.^[2][1]
3. Mercy, quarter.^[1]
4. The shooting of missiles; range.^[2][6]
5. Sending, dispatch.^[2][1]
6. (law) Admission to rights or possession.^[2]
7. (Medieval Latin) A mission; an offering at Mass.^[8]

Related words

• manumissio
• missa
• missāticum
• missīcius
• missiculō
• missilis
• missitō
• missor
• missōrium
• missum
• mitto
• English mission

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com