'Condone' is Latin for 'give away as a gift' — to forgive is to release the offence entirely.
To accept or allow behaviour that is considered morally wrong or offensive to continue; to forgive or overlook an offence.
From Latin 'condōnāre' (to give away entirely, to remit a debt, to forgive a wrong, to overlook an offence as though making a gift of it), composed of 'con-' (together, completely — here used as an intensive prefix) + 'dōnāre' (to give as a gift, to present freely, to donate), from 'dōnum' (a gift), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (to give). The root *deh₃- is productive throughout Indo-European and yields some of the language's most fundamental concepts: Greek 'dídōmi' (δίδωμι, to give → 'antidote' — something given against poison, 'dose' — a giving of medicine, 'anecdote' — something given out or published, 'paradox' — something given alongside expectation), Sanskrit 'dā' (to give → 'dāna,' the virtue of giving in Hindu and Buddhist ethics, one of the highest moral qualities), Latin 'dāre' (to give → 'data' — things given, 'date' — a day assigned or given, 'donate,' 'pardon' from 'per-dōnāre' — to give completely away, 'edition' from 'edere' — to give out), and Old English 'giefan' (to give → modern 'give'). To condone an offence is, in its
In English divorce law, 'condonation' was a legal defense: if one spouse forgave (condoned) the other's adultery by resuming marital relations, they could not later use that adultery as grounds for divorce. The legal concept perfectly preserves the Latin etymology — to condone was to 'give away' the offence, releasing it so completely that it could not be reclaimed.