praemitto

Forms

praemittō (present infinitive praemittere, perfect active praemīsī, supine praemissum); third conjugation^[1] It is often spelled prēmittō in inscriptions and manuscripts.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin prae- (“before”) + mittō (“to send”).^[3][2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨mittō⟩ to Proto-Italic *meit-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *m(e)ith₂- (“to exchange, remove”): from “exchange” the sense passed to “give, bestow” and then “let go, send”; cognates are Sanskrit मेथते (methete, “quarrels”) and Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (inmaidjan, “to change”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Amphitruo: mē ā portū praemīsit domum, “he sent me ahead home from the harbour”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Praemittō is to send ahead, of messengers and troops (Caesar sends legions ahead into Spain), and in Silius to send news of something in advance.^[3][5] Ovid uses it of the Dawn sending the morning stars before her, and the Aetna of a sign sent in advance.^[3] In rhetoric and grammar it is to say first by way of preface, and to place in front, prefix (Terentianus Maurus of a letter).^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “set before, set forth a premise, preface, dispatch”.^[6] From its participle medieval logic named the praemissa (prōpositiō), the proposition set before, whence English premise (late 14th century).^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a slave sent home ahead.^[3][8]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of legions sent ahead.^[5][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the Dawn sending the morning stars.^[3][8]
• late 14th century – English premise, from the medieval Latin participle.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To send ahead, dispatch in advance.^[3][1][6]
2. To send (news, signs) in advance.^[3]
3. To say by way of preface; to set forth as a premise.^[3][6]
4. To place in front, prefix.^[3]

Related words

• mittō
• English premise

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de