mandato Italian · revision 37806

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1348, Giovanni Villani|origins=la mandō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /manˈda.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mandato''' ''m'' (plural mandati)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word of the law and administration, [[bor|la|mandātum|t=charge, commission, order]], the neuter past participle of [[m|la|mandō|t=to entrust; to order]] used as a noun.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto 1968)^(DEI|2342) The Latin verb is a compound of [[m|la|manus|t=hand]] and [[m|la|-dō|t=to put]], so “to put into someone's hand”.^(Wiktionary) The same borrowing is [[fr|mandat]], recorded in 1488.^(DEI|2342)^(GDLI|9, 627) The past participle of [[mandare]], which can also be used as a noun (“envoy”), is the Italian outcome of the same Latin verb.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DEI dates the sense “order” to the 13th century;^(DEI|2342)^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|9, 627) DELI's first dated sense is “authority to do something” in Giovanni Villani before 1348, and Villani also writes that a bishop did not obey the ''mandati del papa'', the pope's orders.^(DEI|2342)^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|9, 627)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The legal senses followed: a judge's order to bring in or arrest an accused person, which DELI dates to about 1536, a written order of payment (1635, Florence) and the contract by which one person undertakes to act on another's behalf (1673).^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|2342) In Old Italian the plural could be the feminine ''le mandata''.^(GDLI|9, 627)

+

+ After the First World War ''mandato'' named the system by which the League of Nations entrusted former colonies to other states, a usage first recorded in 1923.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) In Italian politics the word is the mandate that voters give their representatives and the President's charge to form a government, as in ''mandato esplorativo''; it also names a term of office.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020) In church use the ''mandato'' was the washing of the feet on Maundy Thursday.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 13th century – the sense “order” according to DEI.^(DEI|2342)

+ * Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for “authority”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1488 – French ''mandat'' is first recorded.^(DEI|2342)

+ * c. 1536 – a judge's order of arrest is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1635 – an order of payment, in Florence.^(DEI|2342)

+ * 1673 – Giovanni Battista De Luca uses it for the legal contract.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1923 – the international mandates of the League of Nations.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A charge or commission to do something, especially of public interest; a [[m|en|mandate]]: ''Il comitato ha ricevuto il mandato di riscrivere lo statuto.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(politics)'' The office entrusted to elected representatives, and its term; the charge to form a government: ''mandato parlamentare'', ''mandato esplorativo''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(law)'' A contract by which one party acts on behalf of another.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(law)'' A judge's order, a [[m|en|warrant]]: ''mandato di arresto'', ''mandato di perquisizione''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(finance)'' An order of payment or collection, and the document recording it: ''mandato di pagamento''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(history)'' A territory or the system of international mandates of the League of Nations.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(dated)'' An order, a command; a [[m|en|commandment]].^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GDLI|9, 627)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mandatario]]

+ * [[mandante]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mandare]]

+ * [[comandare]]

+ * [[raccomandare]]

+ * [[la|mandātum]]

+ * [[en|mandate]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Mandato'' is also the past participle of ''mandare'' “to send”, and as a literary noun “envoy, ambassador”.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The GDLI records a Tuscan ''mandato'' “handful”, a masculine form of ''manciata''.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}