administer

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English administren, also aministren,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French aministrer, also administrer,^[5][6][3] and directly borrowed from Latin administrō (“to help, assist; to manage, direct”).^[4][2][5] The Latin verb is formed from ad- (“to”) and ministrō (“to serve, wait upon”),^[7][4][6] from minister (“servant, attendant”).^[7][4][8] In Old French the verb is recorded from the mid-12th century as amenistrer, first meaning to take care of or look after, then to serve, to manage and to supply.^[5] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the second quarter of the 12th century.^[9] French restored the -d- after the Latin form, and English followed;^[4][8][10] Barnhart points out, however, that both spellings already stand side by side in Chaucer.^[6] Related borrowings of the same Latin verb are amministrare, administrar and administrieren.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To manage or direct the affairs of something, and to minister to someone: Chaucer's translation of Boethius, about 1380, has both adminystred and amynistreth.^[6][2][11] The OED's first record of the sense to perform or carry out an office or task is from 1395, in a will.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant to manage something on behalf of others, as a steward does.^[4][12] From the early 15th century it also meant to give or supply something to a person, and especially to give a medicine or treatment;^[5] Etymonline dates the medical sense to the 1540s.^[4] To administer justice, to dispense it as an officer, is recorded from 1443,^[5][4] and the church senses, to give a sacrament or the last rites, from the 1460s to the 1490s.^[5] In law it meant from 1469 to act as the executor or administrator of an estate.^[5] Weekley notes that the object was first a province or an estate, and that the sense "to give, supply" later took objects such as castor oil or a thrashing.^[12] Johnson (1755) defined it first as "to give; to afford; to supply".^[13] The intransitive use, to work in administration, is recorded from 1855.^[5] A noun administer, an administrator, borrowed from Latin, is recorded from about 1443 but did not survive in common use.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – adminystred and amynistreth in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[6][2]
• 1395 – to perform or carry out an office or task.^[5]
• before 1425 – to give or supply something to someone; to give a medicine.^[5]
• 1443 – to dispense justice.^[5][4]
• 1468 – to give a sacrament; to act as a priest.^[5]
• 1469 – to act as the executor or administrator of an estate.^[5]
• 1855 – intransitive, to engage in administration.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To manage or direct the affairs of a government, organization or business: The fund is administered by a board of trustees.^[3][14][5]
2. To put something into effect or carry it out; to dispense, as administer justice.^[14][3][5]
3. To give a medicine, drug or treatment to someone: The nurse administered the vaccine.^[14][3][5]
4. To give or apply something, such as help or a punishment.^[14][5]
5. To give an oath or a test formally and see that it is properly taken.^[14][3]
6. To perform a religious rite or give a sacrament.^[14][5]
7. (law) To manage and distribute the estate of a dead person, as an executor or administrator.^[14][5]

Word family

• administrable
• administrant
• self-administer
• administerial
• maladminister

Related words

• administration
• administrative
• administrator
• minister
• ministry
• minstrel

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins