English
adjutant
Adjutant may come from Spanish ayudante ‘helper, assistant’.
- Spanishc. 1500–presentayudante‘helper, assistant’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1876adjutant
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Spanishc. 1500–presentayudante‘helper, assistant’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1876adjutant
Earliest quotation: 1876, "Burmah" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. IV: “Aquatic birds of various kinds are very numerous, such…”
The story
Probably in part from Spanish ayudante and in part from Portuguese ajudante (‘assistant, helper, aide’), nominal uses of present participial adjectives from respectively ayudar and ajudar, from Latin adiūtō (‘to help, assist’), with remodeling after its present participle adiūtāns (acc. adiūtantem). The stork's name is derived from the military sense, owing to its marchlike stiff gait when on ground.
Linked words
through Latin adiuvō ‘help, assist’
through Latin adiūtō ‘to help, assist’
Today it means
noun An assistant.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Spanish ayudante / adjutant