Etymograph

English

commandery

Commandery comes from French commanderie ‘commandery, commandry’, from Latin commendō ‘to commend, entrust to, commit’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *manus ‘hand’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*manus1‘hand’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*manuðō1‘to hand over’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmandō1‘commit, intrust, enjoin’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommendō2as commendare‘to commend, entrust to, commit’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcommendaria2
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentcommanderie2‘commandery, commandry’
  7. Englishtodaycommandery2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin commendo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English commandery

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*manusWiktionary, Latin commendo‘hand’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*manuðōWiktionary, Latin commendo‘to hand over’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmandōWiktionary, Latin commendo‘commit, intrust, enjoin’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommendōWiktionary, English commanderyas commendare‘to commend, entrust to, commit’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcommendariaWiktionary, English commandery
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentcommanderieWiktionary, English commandery‘commandery, commandry’
  7. EnglishtodaycommanderyWiktionary, English commandery

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- ‘to beckon, signal’

amaze, mannered, mastiff, 32 more

through Proto-Italic *manus ‘hand’

main, manage, manner, manual, manga, manifest, mano, manus, manacles, 31 more

through Latin mandō ‘commit, intrust, enjoin’

mandatory, mandate, commendation, manger, mandible, mange, mandibular, 14 more

through Latin commendō ‘to commend, entrust to, commit’

commodore, commend, 8 more

Today it means

noun The smallest division of a manor under the control of a commander of an order of knights, originally only the Knights Hospitaller.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “commandery”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin commendo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *manus / commandery

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