premise English · revision 39375

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1380, Chaucer's Boece|origins=la mittō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈpɹɛm.ɪs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|premisse]],^(AHD 2024)^(Klein 1966) [[bor|xno|premisse]] and [[fro|premisse]],^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) recorded in Old French as a term of logic from 1310,^(OED 2026)^(AND) from [[la-med|praemissa|t=(the proposition) set in front]], with [[m|la|prōpositiō]] understood.^(AHD 2024)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) This is the feminine past participle of [[m|la|praemittō|t=to send ahead, put before]],^(AHD 2024)^(Etymonline) formed from [[m|la|prae-|t=before]] and [[m|la|mittō|t=to send]].^(AHD 2024)^(Ayto 2005) The legal sense of the plural goes back to the neuter plural of the participle.^(MWU 2024) The verb is from the noun,^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) and according to Merriam-Webster partly from [[m|frm|premis]], the past participle of [[m|frm|premetre|t=to place ahead]].^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In logic, a proposition from which another follows: about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius, according to Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988) the OED's first quotation is from Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus (before 1398).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word entered English as a term of logic.^(Ayto 2005)^(Etymonline) In legal documents, from 1429, ''the premises'' were the matters already stated, which let a deed avoid repeating the conditions or items it had listed, much like ''aforesaid'';^(OED 2026)^(Weekley 1921) from 1464 it meant the houses, lands or tenements named in a conveyance, and by 1610 more broadly a building with its grounds, especially one housing a business.^(OED 2026) A sense "previous events", in Shakespeare and Fletcher's ''Henry VIII'' (1623), died out.^(OED 2026) The verb meant to state by way of introduction from about 1450, and in Shakespeare to send before the expected time;^(OED 2026)^(Johnson 1755) the US sense "to base an argument or plan on an assumption", usually in the passive, dates from 1881.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – a proposition in logic, in Chaucer.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1429 – ''premises'', matters stated earlier in a document.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1450 – verb: to state by way of introduction.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1464 – ''premises'', the property named in a deed.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1610 – ''premises'', a building with its grounds.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1665 – verb: to take as a premise.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1881 – verb: to base on an assumption (US).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(logic)'' A statement taken as true, from which a [[conclusion]] is drawn.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # An assumption on which an argument, plan or story rests.^(MWU 2024)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' A building with its land, especially one used by a business: ''No dogs may be kept on the premises.''^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''(law, plural)'' The matters stated earlier in a [[deed]].^(OED 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To base an argument or plan on something, usually in the passive: ''The plan was premised on rising sales.''^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # To state something as an introduction or as a premise.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[major premise]]

+ * [[minor premise]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mission]]

+ * [[promise]]

+ * [[admit]]

+ * [[commit]]

+ * [[transmit]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In logic, British English also spells the noun ''premiss'', and the SOED gives this as the usual form in that sense.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002) The verb is pronounced like the noun or with a stressed final syllable, /prɪˈmaɪz/.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}