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Origin and history of assignment

assignment(n.)

late 14c., "an order, request, directive," from Old French assignement "(legal) assignment (of dower, etc.)," from Late Latin assignamentum, noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin assignare/adsignare "to allot, assign, award" (see assign). The meaning "appointment to office" is mid-15c.; that of "a task assigned (to someone), commission" is by 1848.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to assignment

assign(v.)

c. 1300, "to transfer, convey, bequeath (property); appoint (to someone a task to be done); order, direct (someone to do something); fix, settle, determine; appoint or set (a time); indicate, point out," from Old French assigner "assign, set (a date, etc.); appoint legally; allot" (13c.), from Latin assignare/adsignare "to mark out, to allot by sign, assign, award," from ad "to" (see ad-) + signare "make a sign," from signum "identifying mark, sign" (see sign (n.)). Its original use was in legal transfers of personal property. Related: Assigned; assigning.

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    grant
    late 14c., "something granted; authoritative bestowal of a privilege, etc.," from Anglo-French graunt, Old French graant, collateral variant of creant "promise, assurance, vow; agreement, pact; will, wish, pleasure," from creanter "be pleasing; assure, promise, guarantee; confirm
    designation
    late 14c., designacioun, "notation, representation, action of pointing or marking out," from Old French designacion or directly from Latin designationem (nominative designatio) "a marking out, specification," noun of action from past participle stem of designare "mark out, devise
    prolepsis
    1570s, "anticipation, the taking of something anticipated as already done or existing," also "the assignment of something...
    delegation
    perhaps a native formation, perhaps from French délégation, or directly from Latin delegationem (nominative delegatio) "assignment...
    detail
    service" is from 1708, from the notion of "distribution in detail of the daily orders first given in general," including assignment...
    legal
    imply that the evolution is the reverse: The verb legare and its compounds all have a meaning which involves a 'task, assignment...
    watch
    From mid-13c. as "a shift of guard duty; an assignment as municipal watchman;" late 13c. as "person or group obligated to...
    fatigue
    1660s, "that which causes weariness," from French fatigue "weariness," from fatiguer "to tire" (15c.), from Latin fatigare "to weary, to tire out," originally "to cause to break down," from pre-Latin adjective *fati-agos "driving to the point of breakdown," with first half from O
    mission
    1590s, "a sending abroad" (as an agent), originally of Jesuits, from Latin missionem (nominative missio) "act of sending, a dispatching; a release, a setting at liberty; discharge from service, dismissal," noun of action from past-participle stem of mittere "to release, let go; s
    commission
    mid-14c., "authority entrusted to someone, delegated authority or power," from Old French commission and directly from Latin commissionem (nominative commissio) "act of committing," in Medieval Latin "delegation of business," noun of action from past participle stem of committere

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