Etymograph

English

emission

Emission comes from Latin ēmissiō ‘sending forth’, and goes back to ēmittō ‘send out’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmittō1‘send out’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmissiō1‘sending forth’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600émission1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1960emission1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English emission
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1960, R. C. Riley, The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future: “Camden motive power depot has been much criticised for…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmittōWiktionary, English emission‘send out’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmissiōWiktionary, English emission‘sending forth’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600émissionWiktionary, English emission
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1960emissionWiktionary, English emission. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1960, R. C. Riley, The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future: “Camden motive power depot has been much criticised for…”

A compound of ex ‘from, out of’ + mittō ‘send’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs ‘out’

Proto-Italic *eks

Latin ex ‘from, out of’

Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘change’

Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘exchange, remove’

Latin mītō

Latin mittō ‘send’

first attested First attested in 1607 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1607.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Latin ēmittō ‘send out’

emit, 3 more

Another origin of emission

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méyth₂etiuncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*meitō‘to put forth, put out’uncertain
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEmītōuncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send, dispatch, cause to go, let go, release, discharge’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmittō‘to send forth, emit, discharge’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmissiō‘a sending out’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentémission
  8. Englishtodayemission

Today it means

noun Something which is emitted or sent out; issue.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “emission”. 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 ēmittō / emission

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