management

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmæn.ɪdʒ.mənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English manage + -ment.^[2][3] The verb manage is probably from Italian maneggiare (“to handle, especially to control a horse”),^[4][2] from Vulgar Latin *manidiāre, from Latin manus (“hand”),^[5][6] and was influenced by French manège (“horsemanship”) and ménager (“to use carefully”).^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action or manner of managing, by direction or manipulation: 1598,^[7][8][9] or the 1590s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Management by physical handling is from the 1670s.^[2] The use of contrivance or ingenuity to gain an end is from 1666, and a piece of trickery from 1736.^[7] Administrative skill or tact is from before 1715.^[7] The governing body or directors of an undertaking, first of a theatre, are the management from 1739,^[2] and the administration of a commercial enterprise specifically from 1906.^[7] In dialect speech management could mean manure.^[10]

Timeline

• 1598 – the act of managing.^[7][8]
• 1666 – contrivance.^[7]
• 1670s – physical handling.^[2]
• 1739 – the directors of an undertaking.^[2]
• 1906 – business administration.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act, manner or practice of managing; supervision, control.
2. The people who control or direct a business or other enterprise.
3. Skill in managing; executive ability.

Word family

• managemental
• self-management

Related words

• manage
• manager
• managerial
• manual
• manège
• menage

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)