repromitto

Forms

reprōmittō (present infinitive reprōmittere, perfect active reprōmīsī, supine reprōmissum); third conjugation^[1] An inscription has the perfect spelled with ⟨ei⟩, repromeisserit.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + prōmittō (“to promise”).^[2][1][4] That verb is a compound of prō- and mittō (“to send, let go”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *m(e)ith₂- (“to exchange, remove”); de Vaan sees its meaning develop from “exchange” to “give” and “let go, send”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[3][6] as a term of business for promising in return or binding oneself: repromittam istoc tibi nomine solutam rem futuram, a promise that the debt on that account will be paid.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In legal use it means to give a formal undertaking in return, as in Cicero’s speech for Quintus Roscius, and then to promise to do or give something.^[2][8] Suetonius uses it of promising again,^[9][10] and Pliny the Younger of guaranteeing something, giving one’s word.^[2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is used of promising in general, and of promising again or binding oneself.^[9][11]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as a business term.^[7][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a formal undertaking.^[2][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of promising again.^[9][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law, intransitive) To give a formal undertaking in return, to bind oneself.^[2][7]
2. To promise to do or give.^[2]
3. To guarantee, give one’s word.^[2]
4. To promise again.^[9][10]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To promise.^[9][11]

Word family

• reprōmissiō
• reprōmissor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
11. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson