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comando

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word comando

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
late 12th century, Ritmo di Sant'Alessio (as comandu)
Inherited from
Latin *commando
Ultimate origin
Latin mandō

Pronunciation

  • /koˈman.do/[1]

Forms

comando m (plural comandi)[1] Old forms include comandu, comanno, commando and chomando.[2] Old Italian also had a feminine plural comanda.[3]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun with no suffix, formed from comandare.[4][5][6] The verb continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *commandāre, a popular form of Latin commendō (“to entrust, hand over”), formed with con- from mandō (“to entrust”).[4][7][1] The verb has its counterparts in French commander, Occitan comandar and Catalan comanar.[7] Spanish borrowed comandar from Italian.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is comandu in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, a poem from the Marche of the late 12th century, where a speaker asks a lady to listen to a request: estu meu comandu scultare (“to hear this command of mine”).[4][2][3] The form comando appears in Dante.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian comando was an order, a permission, a decree or a divine precept, and also power or rule over others.[2] The sense “authority to give orders” is dated before 1600 in Bernardo Davanzati, and the military comando, the commander and his staff and their headquarters, before 1861 in Ippolito Nievo.[4] German took Kommando from Italian in 1614.[8]

Twentieth-century senses are the control of a machine or mechanism (1919) and, in the civil service, the temporary posting of an employee to another office (1950).[4] In sport essere al comando is to be in the lead.[5][9]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – Comandu appears in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.[4][2][5]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses the form comando.[4]
  • Before 1600 – Bernardo Davanzati uses it for the authority to give orders.[4]
  • 1614 – German Kommando is first recorded.[8]
  • Before 1861 – Ippolito Nievo uses it for a military command.[4]
  • 1919 – First record of the sense “control of a mechanism”.[4]
  • 1950 – First record of the civil-service sense.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An order, and the words with which it is given: Il sergente diede il comando di fermarsi.[5][6][9]
  2. The authority or power to give orders, command: Il colonnello ha preso il comando della brigata.[5][6][9]
  3. (sports) The lead in a race or a league table.[5][9][10]
  4. (military) A command: the commander and his staff, and the place where they work, the headquarters: Lo portarono al comando dei carabinieri.[5][9][10]
  5. (administration) The temporary posting of a public employee to another office.[5][9][10]
  6. A control: a device that operates a machine or mechanism.[5][9][11]

Word family

  • telecomando

Usage notes

Ai suoi comandi! (“at your orders”) answers a call from a superior.[5][10] Comando is also a variant spelling of commando, the special military unit.[5][6][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Comando.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/comando. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·