English
ménage
Ménage comes from French ménage ‘housework, housekeeping’, from Old French manoir ‘to stay’, and ultimately from Latin maneo.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmaneoas manēre‘to stay, remain, abide’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400manoir‘to stay’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400manage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600mesnage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentménage‘housework, housekeeping’
- Englishearliest quotation 1838same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmaneoas manēre‘to stay, remain, abide’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400manoir‘to stay’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400manage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600mesnage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentménage‘housework, housekeeping’
- Englishearliest quotation 1838same form
Earliest quotation: 1838, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Keeping up Appearances. […]: “Oh," cried her ladyship, "I see the whole ménage;…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to stay, stand still’
money, music, mind, amount, comment, mental, mouth, mention, mountain, museum, monster, auto, mount, min, monitor, monetary, demonstration, mentor, monk, mint, monument, maya, dementia, monte, imminent, amnesty, muse, mosaic, eminent, summon, ming, prominence, mandarin, mantra, monastery, mont, mania, muster, monstrous, amnesia, 118 more
through Latin maneo ‘to stay, remain, abide’
remain, permanent, mas, remnant, menial, permanence, manet, permanency, 7 more
through Old French manoir ‘to stay’
through French ménage ‘housework, housekeeping’
Today it means
noun A household; a domestic situation.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin maneo / ménage