Etymology: < Anglo-Norman premisse, premesse and Middle French premisse (French prémisse ) (in Logic) each of the two propositions from which the conclusion is drawn in a syllogism (1310 in Old French), preamble (late 14th cent.), material already dealt with, proposition stated previously (late 14th cent.) < post-classical Latin premissa (in Logic) proposition set in front, premise (from 13th cent. in British and continental sources: see note below), also premissa (plural; also occasionally premissum , singular) things mentioned before (frequently from 12th cent. in British sources), uses as noun of respectively the feminine singular (short for propositio premissa , sententia premissa ) and the neuter plural of the past participle of classical Latin praemittere to put before (see premit v.). Compare Old Occitan premissa (14th cent.; Occitan premissa), Catalan premissa (second half of the 15th cent.), Spanish premisa (1413 as premissa), Portuguese premissa (1446 as promissas), Italian premessa (a1565).The β. forms are perhaps after promise n., or perhaps after Middle French, French †premise (15th cent.; 1611 in Cotgrave), Middle French premice (15th cent.), variants of prémisse . The α. forms are now rare except in specific use in Logic. In Logic, the two propositions in a syllogism were formerly called, collectively, the premisses or premises ; individually, the major proposition or simply the proposition (ancient Greek πρότασις , Aristotle: see protasis n.), and the minor proposition or assumption (πρότασις ἡ ἑτέρα or ἡ τελευταία ); the singular terms major premiss and minor premiss are not unambiguously attested in English before the 19th cent. (see further major adj. and n.¹ Compounds, minor adj. and n. Compounds 2), and singular use of premiss or premise in Logic is rare in early use (compare quots. a1398 at sense 1α. , 1660 at sense 1β. ). Latin translations of Aristotle's Analytica priora from Boethius to the 12th cent. regularly render πρότασις by propositio (see Aristoteles Latinus III.1-4: Analytica priora, ed. L. Minio-Paluello (1962) (Index)); the form praemissa, premissa appears in 13th-cent. Latin commentaries on the Analytica priora and in treatises on logic such as those of Albertus Magnus and William of Sherwood, and perhaps also in 13th-cent. Latin translations of Averroes' discussions and paraphrases of Aristotle (it is certainly used in 16th-cent. Latin translations of these texts).

Etymology: < premise n.