English
menagerie
Menagerie comes from French ménager ‘to keep house’, 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’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentménager‘to keep house’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentménagerie
- Englishearliest quotation 1949menagerie
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’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentménager‘to keep house’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentménagerie
- Englishearliest quotation 1949menagerie
Earliest quotation: 1949, Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart: “In Sacramento a crazed woman opened the cages of…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to stay, stand still’
money, music, mind, amount, mouth, mountain, museum, comment, auto, mount, mental, min, mention, monitor, monster, monetary, demonstration, monk, mint, maya, monte, amnesty, muse, monument, mosaic, mentor, summon, ming, imminent, mantra, mont, dementia, mania, monstrous, prominence, eminent, mandarin, monastery, amnesia, manic, 118 more
through Latin maneo ‘to stay, remain, abide’
remain, permanent, mas, remnant, manet, permanence, menial, permanency, 7 more
through Old French manoir ‘to stay’
through French ménage ‘housework, housekeeping’
Today it means
noun A collection of live wild animals as an exhibition historically associated with the aristocracy and considered a precursor of modern zoos.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin maneo / menagerie