Etymology

compromise

com·pro·mise
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Today it means: The settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions. Full definition →

Middle French compromis ← Late Latin compromissum ← Latin compromissus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcompromissus
  2. Late Latin · derived fromcompromissum“a compromise, originally a mutual promise to refer to arbitration”
  3. Middle French · derived fromcompromis
  4. English todaycompromise

From Middle French compromis, from Medieval Latin, Late Latin compromissum (“a compromise, originally a mutual promise to refer to arbitration”), prop. neuter of Latin compromissus, past participle of compromittere (“to make a mutual promise to abide by the decision of an arbiter”), from com- (“together”) + promittere (“to promise”); see promise.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.