Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • /kəˈmɛnd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English commenden, also comenden,[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin commendō (“to commit to someone's care, entrust; to recommend”),[5][4][6][3][7] with influence from Old French comender.[2] The Latin verb is formed from com-, here intensive, and mandō (“to commit to one's charge, entrust”),[5][6][8][9] the source of mandate;[5][4] Klein glosses it literally as "to place in one's hands".[10] Old French comander had both the sense of commending and that of commanding, and so at first did the Middle English verb commande; in the 14th century English took commend from the Latin in the original sense, and command in that sense gradually died out.[5][8] Etymonline calls commend a doublet of command.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To praise or speak of with approval: before 1340, in Richard Rolle's Psalter.[5] Etymonline dates the verb to the mid-14th century,[4] and Barnhart probably to about 1350.[3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense, to give something or someone into another's care, appears in the Wycliffite Bible (before 1382),[5][2] and is now used especially of committing a soul to God, as in "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit".[5][7] Phrases such as commend to memory, after Latin commendare memoriae, lasted until the 19th century.[5] The sense of presenting something as worthy of notice, that is recommending it, is recorded from about 1384;[5] by about 1400 the verb could mean to send someone's greetings, as in commend me to your brother.[4][2] Weekley and Etymonline explain the praising sense as growing out of presenting something as worthy of regard, Etymonline adding that it may sometimes be a shortening of recommend.[11][4] Chaucer used the verb 14 times and Gower 20.[12] From 1535 to 1644 it could also mean to set off to advantage or adorn.[5] The noun commend, a commendation or greeting, was used from 1488 to the 17th century;[5][13] Johnson (1755) quoted Shakespeare's "my kind commends" from Richard II and called it no longer in use.[14]

Timeline

  • before 1340 – to praise.[5]
  • before 1382 – to entrust to someone's care.[5][2]
  • c. 1384 – to recommend as worthy of attention.[5]
  • c. 1400 – to send the greetings of.[4]
  • 1535 – to set off to advantage, adorn (obsolete by 1644).[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To praise or speak well of: The judge commended the jury for its patience.[15][7][13]
  2. To recommend as worthy of attention, trust or favour: I commend this book to anyone interested in birds.[15][7][13]
  3. To give into someone's care; to entrust, especially to the keeping of God.[15][7][5]
  4. (dated) To pass on someone's greetings: Commend me to your sister.[15][2]

Word family

  • commendable
  • commendableness
  • commendably
  • commender
  • commendingly
  • discommend
  • overcommend

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  13. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins