promissum

Latin

Etymology

From prōmissus, from prōmittō.

Compare typologically Ancient Greek ἐπαγγελία (epangelía), Russian по́сул (pósul) (? akin to слать (slatʹ)).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [proːˈmɪs.sũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [proˈmis.sum]

Noun

prōmissum n (genitive prōmissī); second declension

1. promise

   Synonyms: pollicitum, prōmissiō, crēdentia, fidēs

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.685–686:

     [...] illa deum prōmissō lūdit inānī
     et stultam dubiā spem trahit usque morā.

     She tricks the god with an empty promise,
     and prolongs his foolish hope with dubious delay.
     (The elderly goddess Anna Perenna amused herself by deceiving Mars after he sought her help in wooing Minverva.)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	prōmissum	prōmissa
genitive	prōmissī	prōmissōrum
dative	prōmissō	prōmissīs
accusative	prōmissum	prōmissa
ablative	prōmissō	prōmissīs
vocative	prōmissum	prōmissa

Descendants

• Asturian: promesa
• Catalan: promesa
• Galician: promesa
• Italian: promessa
• Old French: promesse
  • → Middle English: promis, promisse
    • English: promise
  • French: promesse
• Portuguese: promessa
• Spanish: promesa
  • → Chavacano: promesa

Verb

prōmissum

1. accusative supine of prōmittō

References

• “promissum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “promissum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “promissum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to abide by one's undertaking: promisso stare
    
  • (ambiguous) to fulfil a promise: fidem (promissum) praestare