Etymologically
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missio

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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]

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