Etymograph

English

maintain

Maintain comes from Middle English mayntenen, from Old French maintenir, either a compound of main + tenir or from Late Latin manūteneō ‘I support’.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400maintenir1‘to maintain’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mayntenen1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1485maintain1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English maintain
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory: “And thenne he asked leue & wente oute of…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400maintenirWiktionary, English maintain‘to maintain’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mayntenenWiktionary, English maintain
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1485maintainWiktionary, English maintain. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory: “And thenne he asked leue & wente oute of…”

A compound of manū ‘with/in/by the hand’ + tenēre ‘to hold’

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

Proto-Italic *manus ‘hand’

Latin manus ‘with/in/by the hand’

Latin tenēre ‘to hold’

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Today it means

verb To keep up; to preserve; to uphold (a state, condition etc.).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “maintain”. 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 / Old French maintenir / maintain