Etymologically
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mandatorius

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Forms

mandātōrius (feminine mandātōria, neuter mandātōrium); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin mandātor (“one who gives a commission”), with the adjective suffix -ius,[3][1] and so goes back to mandō1 (“to entrust, command”).[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Roman law, in a rescript of 293 preserved in the Code of Justinian,[3][4] meaning “of a mandator”, in the phrase mandatorio nomine, “in the name of one who commissions a loan”.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

In the Latin acts of the councils the neuter mandatorium is used as a noun for a written commission.[3] In medieval Latin the adjective meant “of a mandate, of an order”,[6] and litterae mandatoriae were letters containing commands.[7][8] As a noun it named an agent or factor, and also the advocate of a church or monastery.[9] English took it over as mandatory, first “containing a command”.[5]

Timeline

  • 293 AD – A rescript in the Code of Justinian speaks of a guarantee given “in the name of a mandator”.[3][4]
  • 1354 – A Croatian charter mentions royal letters that are preceptorias et mandatorias.[7]
  • 1506 – A letter of Henry VII of England calls a merchant's agent his factor sive mandatorius.[9]
  • 1570s – English borrows mandatory from the Late Latin word.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (law) Of or belonging to a mandator, one who commissions a loan.[1][2][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Of a mandate or order; containing commands.[6][7]

Noun

  1. (Late Latin, neuter) A written commission.[3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) An agent, factor.[9]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The advocate of a church or monastery.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
  8. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  9. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre