mandat

Forms

mandat n (plural mandate)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French mandat, with German Mandat as a further model;^[2][3][4][1] DEX and the DLR give the French word and compare the German one, and MDA2 names both.^[2][3][4][1] Scriban took it from Latin mandātum.^[5]

The French noun is a borrowing of 1488 from the Latin word, first used for a papal rescript.^[6] The Latin noun is the supine of mandō (“to entrust, command”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *man- (“hand”) and *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) has it as a papal rescript, an order.^[7] MDA2's first record is George Barițiu's Părți alese din istoria Transilvaniei (1889–1891), in the sense “order”: „la mandatul lui Kemeny” “at Kemény's order”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Costinescu (1870) records the papal rescript, a commission, a written order to pay a sum, and the instructions voters give to their deputies.^[8] The judicial order followed, mandat de aducere in Maiorescu and mandat de arestare in Stancu.^[3] Scriban adds the postal and telegraphic money order.^[5] After the First World War teritoriu sub mandat named a former colony entrusted to another state.^[9][2] The term of office of an elected representative is a later sense.^[4]

Timeline

• 1848 – “papal rescript; order” in Negulici.^[7]
• 1870 – a payment order and a deputy's instructions in Costinescu.^[8]
• 1889-1891 – “order” in Barițiu.^[4][3]
• 1939 – the postal and telegraphic money order in Scriban.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mandate: an authorization to represent a person or a legal entity and act in their name, or the document that gives it;^[2] teritoriu sub mandat, formerly a territory administered by a foreign state.^[2]
2. The authority received from voters to represent them, and its term of office.^[4][9]
3. (law) An order;^[2] mandat de arestare “arrest warrant”, mandat de aducere “an order to bring someone before a court or investigator”.^[2]
4. A postal money order, the form filled in for it, or the sum sent: A primit pensia prin mandat poștal.^[2]

Related words

• mandatar
• manda
• comanda
• French mandat
• Latin mandātum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 615
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mandat
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1426
5. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 771
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. mandat
7. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. mandat
8. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 65
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. mandat