'Permit' is Latin for 'send through' — sibling of admit, commit, transmit, emit, and submit.
To allow or give permission for something to happen (verb); an official document granting authorization (noun).
From Latin 'permittere,' meaning 'to let pass through, to allow, to give up, to surrender,' composed of 'per-' (through, thoroughly) and 'mittere' (to send, to let go). The literal sense is 'to send through' — to let something pass rather than blocking it. The noun sense of an authorization document developed in the 17th century. Like 'admit,' 'commit,' '
In Roman law, 'permittere' could mean 'to surrender' or 'to hand over completely' — a much stronger sense than modern 'permit.' When a Roman general 'permitted' a conquered city, he was handing it over to his soldiers for plunder. The softening from 'surrender' to 'allow' happened gradually