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manutenentia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word manutenentia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1020, charter
Ultimate origin
Latin manus,teneō

Forms

manūtenentia, manūtenentiae f (first declension).[1][2] The spellings manutentia[3] and manutenencia also occur.[4]

Etymology

It is a noun formed in the Middle Ages, from Medieval Latin manūteneō (“to maintain, protect”),[1][4] a verb made from manus (“hand”) and teneō (“to hold”), literally “to hold by the hand”.[3][2] Du Cange explained the noun from this image: one can come to the help of someone one holds by the hand all the more quickly.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record the NGML gives is a charter of 1020, with the spelling manutentia, in which a place is received into safe protection and custody.[3]

Semantic evolution

In charters of southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries it meant protection or support, often paired with words for defence and guardianship.[3][5] Niermeyer glosses it as maintenance and protection.[6]

British documents of the 14th and 15th centuries use it for the maintaining or upholding of a person, a thing, alms or a legal action, and often in a bad sense, for the wrongful backing of offenders.[2] In Poland it also meant sustenance, the means of living,[4] and the Lexicon Bohemorum glosses it as preservation.[7] The English word maintenance, first recorded in the mid-14th century for wrongful interference in other people's lawsuits by a lord or his followers, came instead from Old French.[8]

Timeline

  • 1020 – A charter, with the spelling manutentia, receives a place into protection.[3]
  • 1145 – It appears in a document printed in the Gallia christiana.[1]
  • 1173 – A cartulary charter receives the addressees and all their goods into its issuer's protection.[3]
  • 1300 – An English record says that the power and backing of a superior kept monks from being corrected.[2]
  • 1334 – A Scottish roll uses it for the upholding of the king and his people.[2]
  • 1453 – A Glasgow record takes the masters and scholars of the university under its issuer's peace, defence and manutenentia.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) protection, support, help.[3][6][5]
  2. (Medieval Latin) maintenance, the upholding or sustaining of a person, thing or legal action.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The wrongful backing of offenders or of misdeeds.[2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) sustenance, livelihood.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  4. ^ a b c d Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  5. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Manutenentia.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/manutenentia. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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