Where does “maintain” come from?
Maintain comes from Middle English mayntenen, from Old French maintenir meaning "to hold in the hand," from Latin manus "hand" and tenere "to hold."
maintain (English): To keep up; to preserve; to uphold (a state, condition etc.)
Definitions
- To keep up; to preserve; to uphold (a state, condition etc.)
Ancestry of “maintain”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | mayntenen | — |
| 2 | Old French | maintenir | to maintain |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | manuteneo | I support, maintain |
| 4 | Latin | manu | ablative singular of manus; by hand; with the... |
| 5 | Latin | manus | hand; bravery, valor; violence, fighting |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | manus | hand |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | man- | human being; man; hand |
Words derived from “maintain”