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Origin and history of premise

premise(n.)

late 14c., in logic, "a previous proposition from which another follows, a judgment causing another judgment," from Old French premisse (14c.), from Medieval Latin praemissa (propositio or sententia) "(the proposition) set before," noun use of fem. past participle of Latin praemittere "send forward, put before," from prae "before" (see pre-) + mittere "to send" (see mission).

In legal documents it meant "matter previously stated" (early 15c.), which in deeds or wills often was a description of a house or building, hence the extended meaning "house or building, with grounds" (1730).

premise(v.)

"to state before something else, set forth or make known as introductory to the main subject," mid-15c., from premise (n.). Related: Premised; premising.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to premise

mission(n.)

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; send, throw," which de Vaan traces to a PIE *m(e)ith- "to exchange, remove," also source of Sanskrit methete, mimetha "to become hostile, quarrel," Gothic in-maidjan "to change;" he writes, "From original 'exchange', the meaning developed to 'give, bestow' ... and 'let go, send'."

Meaning "an organized effort for the spread of religion or for enlightenment of a community" is by 1640s; that of "a missionary post or station" is by 1769. The diplomatic sense of "body of persons sent to a foreign land on commercial or political business" is from 1620s; in American English, sometimes "a foreign legation or embassy, the office of a foreign envoy" (1805).

General sense of "that for which one is sent or commissioned" is from 1670s; meaning "that for which a person or thing is destined" (as in man on a mission, one's mission in life) is by 1805. Meaning "dispatch of an aircraft on a military operation" (by 1929, American English) was extended to spacecraft flights (1962), hence, mission control "team on the ground responsible for directing a spacecraft and its crew" (1964). As a style of furniture, said to be imitative of furniture in the buildings of original Spanish missions to western North America, it is attested from 1900.

premises(n.)

"building and grounds," 1730; see premise (n.).

pre-

word-forming element meaning "before," from Old French pre- and Medieval Latin pre-, both from Latin prae (adverb and preposition) "before in time or place," from PIE *peri- (source also of Oscan prai, Umbrian pre, Sanskrit pare "thereupon," Greek parai "at," Gaulish are- "at, before," Lithuanian prie "at," Old Church Slavonic pri "at," Gothic faura, Old English fore "before"), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "beyond, in front of, before."

The Latin word was active in forming verbs. Also see prae-. Sometimes in Middle English muddled with words in pro- or per-.

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    precede
    early 15c., preceden, "lead the way; occur or exist before, go before in order of time," from Old French preceder and directly from Latin praecedere "to go before," from prae "before" (see pre-) + cedere "to go" (from PIE root *ked- "to go, yield"). Meaning "to walk in front of"
    preface
    late 14c., "an introduction to the canon of the Mass," also "statement or statements introducing a discourse, book, or other composition; series of preliminary remarks, written or spoken," from Old French preface "opening part of sung devotions" (14c.) and directly from Medieval
    introduce
    early 15c., "convey or bring (something) in or into," a back-formation from introduction or else from Latin introducere "to lead in, bring in," from intro- "inward, to the inside" (see intro-) + ducere "to lead" (from PIE root *deuk- "to lead"). Meaning "to bring forward, open to
    enthymeme
    "a syllogism in which one premise is omitted," in Aristotle, "an inference from likelihoods and signs," 1580s, from Latin...
    hypothesis
    1590s, "a particular statement;" 1650s, "a proposition, assumed and taken for granted, used as a premise," from French hypothese...
    maxim
    shortened from phrases such as maxima propositio (Boethius), maxima sententarium "axiom," literally "greatest or chief premise...
    petitio principii
    their premises, either necessarily or with the degree of probability pretended, the fault consisting in the assumption of a premise...
    assumption
    c. 1300, assumpcioun, "the reception, uncorrupted, of the Virgin Mary into Heaven" (also the Aug. 15 Church festival commemorating this, Feast of the Assumption), from Old French assumpcion, asumpsion (13c.) and directly from Latin assumptionem (nominative assumptio) "a taking up
    tell
    Old English tellan "to reckon, calculate, number, compute; consider, think, esteem, account" (past tense tealde, past participle teald), from Proto-Germanic *taljan "to mention in order" (source also of Old Saxon tellian "tell," Old Norse telja "to count, number; to tell, say," O
    stipulation
    1550s, "a commitment or activity to do something" (now obsolete), from Latin stipulationem (nominative stipulatio), "a promise, bargain, covenant," noun of action from past-participle stem of stipulari "exact a promise, engage, bargain," a word of uncertain origin. It is traditio

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