1520s, Latin, literally "let the buyer beware;" see caveat and second element of exempt (adj.).
Entries linking to caveat emptor
caveat n.
"warning, hint of caution," 1550s, Latin, literally "let him beware," third person singular present subjunctive of cavere "to beware, take heed, watch, guard against" (from PIE root *keu- "to see, observe, perceive"). The legal meaning "public warning preventing some action" is attested from 1650s.
exempt adj.
late 14c., "not subject to (a rule, law, authority, etc.)," from Old French exempt (13c.) and directly from Latin exemptus, past participle of eximere "remove, take out, take away; free, release, deliver, make an exception of," from ex "out" (see ex-) + emere "to buy," originally "to take," from PIE root *em- "to take, distribute." Also in Middle English in a more general sense, "taken away, cut off (from), removed (from)."