transmitto

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [trãːsˈmɪt.toː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [tranzˈmit.to]^[1]

Forms

trānsmittō (present infinitive trānsmittere, perfect active trānsmīsī, supine trānsmissum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from trāns- “across” and mittō “to send”.^[2][1][3] It is also spelled ⟨trāmittō⟩.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of sending a person over to someone.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to send or pass over from one place or person to another, to send across, as Caesar's cavalry carried across a river, and to extend across.^[2][4][6] From Cicero it meant to cross, especially a stretch of water, and intransitively to cross over.^[2] It meant to allow to cross, as in Livy, and in Celsus and Pliny the Elder to let pass through, strain, and of light and sound to transmit.^[2] In Seneca it meant to let time pass, in Tacitus to pass over in silence, and in Pacuvius to hand over possession or rights.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to send across, transmit, transfer.^[7] English transmit came about 1400, and English transmission in the 1610s.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of sending a person over.^[2][5]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of handing over.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of crossing the sea.^[2][5]
• c. 1400 – English transmit is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To send across, pass over; to extend across.^[2]
2. To cross (a stretch of water); to cross over.^[2]
3. To let cross; to let pass through, strain; of light and sound, to transmit.^[2]
4. To let time pass; to pass over in silence.^[2]
5. To hand over, transfer.^[2]

Word family

• trānsmissiō
• trānsmissus

Related words

• mittō
• English transmit
• English transmission

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson