English
commendable
Commendable comes from Latin commendare ‘to commend, intrust to’, and goes back to mandare.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmandare‘to commit, intrust, enjoin’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommendare‘to commend, intrust to’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommendabilis
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600commendable
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘commendable, admirable’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmandare‘to commit, intrust, enjoin’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommendare‘to commend, intrust to’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommendabilis
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600commendable
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘commendable, admirable’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598same form
Earliest quotation: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “Thanks, i' faith; for silence is only commendable In…”
A compound of manus ‘hand’ + dare ‘to put’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- ‘to beckon’
Proto-Italic *manus ‘hand’
Latin manus ‘hand’
Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- ‘give’
Proto-Indo-European *dédeh₃ti ‘to be giving’
Proto-Italic *didō ‘to give’
Latin dō ‘to put’
Linked words
through Latin commendare ‘to commend, intrust to’
Today it means
adj Worthy of commendation; deserving praise; admirable, creditable, or meritorious.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin mandare / commendable