manual

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmæn.ju.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English manuel, borrowed from Middle French manuel and directly from Latin manuālis (“of or belonging to the hand”),^[2][3][4] later assimilated to the Latin,^[3][5] from manus (“hand”),^[6][2] from the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *man- (“hand”),^[6] which Barnhart and Hoad connect with Old English and Old Norse mund “hand”.^[2][3][4] The noun is Old French manuel “handbook”, from Late Latin manuāle “case of a book, handbook”, a noun use of the neuter.^[6][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or done with the hands: 1406 in the OED and probably in Barnhart, about 1400 in Etymonline.^[7][2][6] The noun, a small service book used by a priest, is from 1432.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

A concise handbook of any sort is from the 1530s;^[6] Etymonline notes the etymological sense, a book small enough to carry in the hand.^[6] A signature in one's own hand, as in sign manual, is from 1522,^[7] and of tools worked by hand from 1591.^[7] The manual exercise, drill in handling a rifle, is from 1760.^[6][7] The keyboard of an organ played with the hands, as distinct from the pedals, is a 19th-century sense.^[3] Manual labour, physical rather than mental work, and a car with a manual gearbox are later uses.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1406 – done with the hands.^[7][2]
• 1432 – a priest's service book.^[2]
• 1530s – a handbook.^[6]
• 1591 – worked by hand.^[7]
• 1760 – the manual exercise.^[6][7]
• 19th century – an organ keyboard.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Done or worked by hand, not by machine or automatically: manual controls.
2. Involving physical work: manual labour.
3. Relating to the hands.

Noun

1. A book of instructions; a handbook.
2. A keyboard of an organ played with the hands.
3. A vehicle with a manual gearbox.

Word family

• manually
• bimanual
• manualism
• manualist
• nonmanual
• sign manual
• manual transmission
• manual alphabet

Related words

• amanuensis
• manufacture
• manumit
• manus
• manuscript
• manicure
• manipulate
• manage
• emancipate

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin