1610s, "conveyance from one place to another," from Latin transmissionem (nominative transmissio) "a sending over or across, passage," noun of action from past-participle stem of transmittere "send over or across" (see transmit). Meaning "part of a motor vehicle that regulates power from the engine to the axle" is first recorded 1894.
1520s, "to impart (information, etc.); to give or transmit (a quality, feeling, etc.) to another," from Latin communicatus, past participle of communicare "to share, communicate, impart, inform," literally "to make common," related to communis "common, public, general" (see common (adj.)). Meaning "to share, transmit" (diseases, etc.) is from 1530s. Intransitive sense, of rooms, etc., "to open into each other" is from 1731. Related: Communicated; communicating.
"transmit by radio," 1916, from radio (n.). Related: Radioed; radioing. An earlier verb in the same sense was marconi (1908), from the name of Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), pioneer of wireless telegraphy.
