missus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɪs.sʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmis.sus]^[1]

Forms

missus m (genitive missūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mittō (“to send, throw”) + -tus, a verbal noun of the fourth declension.^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨mittō⟩ to Proto-Italic *meit-e/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *m(e)ith₂- (“to exchange, remove”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Lucretius.^[4] The OLD cites Cicero for the sending of persons and Livy for the discharge of missiles.^[2] Köbler dates Lucretius 96–55 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a sending, dispatching, usually in the ablative with a genitive, as in Caesar's missū Caesaris “sent by Caesar” and Cicero; the shooting of missiles, and the distance a missile travels, as in Livy; and in the circus a race, normally of seven laps, as in Suetonius.^[2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant an envoy.^[6] Isidore says Christ is called missus because the Word made flesh appeared in this world.^[7] In Medieval Latin a missus was a messenger, envoy, ambassador, and above all the missus dominicus, a royal commissioner; it was also a count's subordinate, a bishop's deputy, a papal legate and an attorney.^[8]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.^[4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar has missū Caesaris.^[5][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a race.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sending, dispatch.^[2]
2. The shooting of missiles; a missile's range.^[2]
3. (circus) A race.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A messenger, envoy, missus dominicus, a royal commissioner.^[8]

Related words

• mittō
• missiō
• missīle

Usage notes

missus is also the perfect participle of mittō.^[5][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.