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Origin and history of congee

congee(n.)

mid-14c., "leave or permission to depart," from Old French conget, congié "permission, leave of absence, dismissal, ceremonial leave-taking" (Modern French congé), from Medieval Latin commeatus "leave, permission to depart," in classical Latin "passage, going to and fro," hence "leave of absence," from commeare, from com "with, together" (see com-) + meare "to go, pass" (from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move"). Probably lost 17c. and revived 19c. from Modern French as congé. Also as a verb.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to congee

com-

word-forming element usually meaning "with, together," from Latin com, archaic form of classical Latin cum "together, together with, in combination," from PIE *kom- "beside, near, by, with" (compare Old English ge-, German ge-). The prefix in Latin sometimes was used as an intensive.

Before vowels and aspirates, it is reduced to co-; before -g-, it is assimilated to cog- or con-; before -l-, assimilated to col-; before -r-, assimilated to cor-; before -c-, -d-, -j-, -n-, -q-, -s-, -t-, and -v-, it is assimilated to con-, which was so frequent that it often was used as the normal form.

*mei-(1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to change, go, move," "with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services within a society as regulated by custom or law" [Watkins].

It might form all or part of: amiss; amoeba; azimuth; common; commune; communicate; communication; communism; commute; congee; demean; emigrate; emigration; excommunicate; excommunication; immune; immutable; incommunicado; mad; mean (adj.1) "low-quality;" mew (n.2) "cage;" mews; migrate; migration; mis- (1) "bad, wrong;" mistake; Mithras; molt; Mstislav; municipal; munificent; mutable; mutant; mutate; mutation; mutatis mutandis; mutual; permeable; permeate; permutation; permute; remunerate; remuneration; transmutation; transmute; zenith.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit methati "changes, alternates, joins, meets;" Avestan mitho "perverted, false;" Hittite mutai- "be changed into;" Latin mutare "to change," meare "to go, pass," migrare "to move from one place to another," mutuus "done in exchange;" Old Church Slavonic mite "alternately;" Czech mijim "to go by, pass by," Polish mijać "avoid;" Gothic maidjan "to change."

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    permit
    early 15c., permitten, transitive, "allow (something) to be done, suffer or allow to be," from Old French permetre and directly from Latin permittere "let pass, let go, let loose; give up, hand over; let, allow, grant, permit," from per "through" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward
    gruel
    late 12c., "meal or flour made of beans, lentils, etc.," from Old French gruel "fine meal" (Modern French gruau), a diminutive form from Frankish *grut or another Germanic source, cognate with Middle Dutch grute "coarse meal, malt;" Middle High German gruz "grain," from PIE *ghre
    impression
    late 14c., "mark produced by pressure," also "image produced in the mind or emotions by something external," from Old French impression "print, stamp; a pressing on the mind" (13c.), from Latin impressionem (nominative impressio) "a pressing into, onset, attack," figuratively "a
    firing
    1540s, "action of applying fire or setting on fire," verbal noun from fire (v.). From c. 1600 as "act of discharging firearms." Firing squad is attested from 1891 in reference to military executions; earlier as "those selected to fire over the grave of anyone interred with milita
    silence
    c. 1200, "muteness, state of being or keeping silent, a forbearing from speech or utterance," from Old French silence "state of being silent; absence of sound or noise," from Latin silentium "a being silent," from silens, present participle of silere "be quiet or still," a word o
    release
    c. 1300, relēsen, "to withdraw, revoke (a decree, etc.), cancel, lift; remit," from Old French relaissier, relesser "to relinquish, quit, let go, leave behind, abandon, acquit," variant of relacher "release, relax," from Latin relaxare "loosen, stretch out" (from re- "back" (see
    depart
    mid-13c., departen, "part from each other, part company;" late 13c., "separate into parts," original senses now archaic or obsolete, from Old French departir (10c.) "to divide, distribute; separate (oneself), depart; die," from Late Latin departire "to divide" (transitive), from
    quit
    c. 1200, "excused, exempt, free, clear" (of debt, obligation, penalty, etc.), from Old French quite, quitte "free, clear, entire, at liberty; discharged; unmarried," and directly from Medieval Latin quitus, quittus, from Latin quietus "free" (in Medieval Latin "free from war, deb
    bow
    [bend the body] Middle English bouen, from Old English bugan "to bend, become bent, have or assume a curved direction; to bow down, bend the body in condescension or reverence, to submit," also "to turn back" (class II strong verb; past tense beag, past participle bogen), from Pr
    discharge
    early 14c., "to exempt, exonerate, release, free (from an obligation)," from Old French deschargier "to unload, discharge" (12c., Modern French décharger), from Late Latin discarricare, from dis- "do the opposite of" (see dis-) + carricare "to load a wagon or cart," from Latin ca

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