English
demiss
Demiss comes from Latin dēmissus ‘dropped, lowered, downcast’, from dēmittō ‘demit’, and ultimately from mittō ‘send’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō1‘send’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēmittō2‘demit’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēmissus2‘dropped, lowered, downcast’past participle of dēmittō
- Englishearliest quotation 1595demiss2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin demitto
- 2 Wiktionary, English demiss
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, Barnabe Barnes, A Divine Centurie of Spirituall Sonnets: “Oh that I had whole westerne windes of breath,…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittōWiktionary, Latin demitto‘send’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēmittōWiktionary, English demiss‘demit’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēmissusWiktionary, English demiss‘dropped, lowered, downcast’past participle of dēmittō
- Englishearliest quotation 1595demissWiktionary, English demiss. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, Barnabe Barnes, A Divine Centurie of Spirituall Sonnets: “Oh that I had whole westerne windes of breath,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *meitō ‘to put forth, put out’
remission, unremitting, 18 more
through Old Latin mītō
permission, transmission, admission, submission, emission, omission, remit, commissariat, 20 more
through Latin mittō ‘send’
committee, commission, admit, mess, mission, commit, missile, transmit, intermittent, premise, dismiss, omit, amit, emit, commissary, permissive, commissar, missive, remiss, 32 more
Today it means
adj Humble, lowly; abject.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “demiss”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin demitto. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin mittō / demiss