permit [LME] This word was originally used in the sense ‘commit, hand over’: it is from Latin permittere, from per- ‘through’ and mittere ‘send, let go’. ‘Written order giving permission’ is recorded from the early 16th century. Permission and permissive are also Late Middle English. Permissive society dates from the 1970s. Latin mittere is the base of a number of other Latin words found in English such as admit with ad ‘to’; submit from sub ‘under’; transmit from trans ‘across’. All are Late Middle English.