Where does “maintenance” come from?
Maintenance comes from Middle English mayntenaunce, from Old French maintenance, derived from Old French maintenir meaning to hold or support, ultimately from Latin manus tenere, combining manus (hand) and tenere (to hold).
maintenance (English): Actions performed to keep some machine or system...
Definitions
- Actions performed to keep some machine or system...
Ancestry of “maintenance”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | mayntenaunce | — |
| 2 | Old French | maintenance | — |
| 3 | Old French | maintenir | to maintain |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | manuteneo | I support, maintain |
| 5 | Latin | manu | ablative singular of manus; by hand; with the... |
| 6 | Latin | manus | hand; bravery, valor; violence, fighting |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | manus | hand |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | man- | human being; man; hand |
Words derived from “maintenance”