mitto
Inari Sami
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Latin
Etymology
Likely from mītō via the so-called littera-rule, from Proto-Italic *meitō, from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“exchange, remove”), an extension of the root *mey- (“change”). From the original meaning “to exchange” a semantic shift occurred to “to give, bestow” and then “to let go, send”. Cognate to South Picene meitims, meitimúm (“monument”, nom. and acc. sg. respectively). External cognates include Sanskrit मेथेते (methete, “to become hostile, quarrel”), and Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (inmaidjan, “to change”).[1][2]
Based on the attested hapax legomenon cōsmittō for committō, some[3] reconstruct the root with an initial s-, but De Vaan regards the hapax as not trustworthy enough.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈmit.toː/, [ˈmɪt̪ːoː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmit.to/, [ˈmit̪ːo]
Verb
mittō (present infinitive mittere, perfect active mīsī, supine missum); third conjugation
- to send, dispatch, cause to go, let go, release, discharge
- to put out, extend, reach out (one's hand)
- to announce, tell, report, send word, advise
- (chiefly poetic) to yield, furnish, produce, export
- to put an end to
- to let or bring out, put or send forth, send out, emit; let blood, bleed; utter a sound, speak, say
- to throw, hurl, fling, cast, launch, send; throw down, sprinkle
- Synonyms: coniciō, iniciō, adiciō, obiciō, abiciō, permittō, iaciō, iactō, iaculor, impingō, ēmittō, trāiciō, lībrō
- 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.565–566:
- “Dēseruēre omnēs dēfessī, et corpora saltū
ad terram mīsēre aut ignibus aegra dedēre.”- “All [of my men], exhausted, had given up [the fight], and with a leap had flung [themselves] to the ground [below] or else consigned their weakened bodies to the flames.”
(Syncopation: mīsēre, mīsēr[unt].)
- “All [of my men], exhausted, had given up [the fight], and with a leap had flung [themselves] to the ground [below] or else consigned their weakened bodies to the flames.”
- “Dēseruēre omnēs dēfessī, et corpora saltū
- to attend, guide, escort
- to dedicate (a book or poem to someone to compliment them)
- to dismiss, disregard
- (chiefly poetic) to pass over, forbear, cease
Conjugation
Derived terms
Descendants
- Aragonese: meter
- Catalan: metre
- Dalmatian: metar, miater
- Franco-Provençal: mettre
- French: mettre
- Friulian: meti
- Galician: meter
- Istriot: meti
- Italian: mettere
- Ladin: meter
- Neapolitan: mettere
- Norman: maette, mettre
- Occitan: metre, metar
- Portuguese: meter
- Romagnol: mètar
- Romansch: metter, meter
- Sardinian: míntere, míntiri, mintire
- Sicilian: mèttiri, mèntiri
- Spanish: meter
- Venetian: métar, meter
References
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “mittō, -ere”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 384
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “mission”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 968
Further reading
- “mitto”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “mitto”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- mitto in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to send to meet a person: obviam alicui aliquem mittere
- to speak, utter a sound: vocem mittere (sonitum reddere of things)
- to dedicate a book to some one: librum mittere ad aliquem (Fin. 1. 3. 8)
- to write a letter to some one: epistulam (litteras) dare, scribere, mittere ad aliquem
- to send and consult the oracle at Delphi: mittere Delphos consultum
- to turn some one out of the house: foras mittere aliquem
- to send out colonists: colōnos mittere (Div. 1. 1. 3)
- to discharge missiles: tela iacere, conicere, mittere
- to send to the war: mittere ad bellum
- (ambiguous) to live a happy (unhappy) life: vitam beatam (miseram) degere
- to send to meet a person: obviam alicui aliquem mittere
- Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
Mòcheno
Etymology
A reduced form from Middle High German mittetac, from Old High German mittitac, from mitti (“middle”) + tac (“day”). Compare mitta (“Wednesday”).
Derived terms
References
- “mitto” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.