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Adopting Words: amandation

This weeks word is “amandation”! It probably doesn’t mean what you think it means. Keep on reading to learn more!

amandation

n. 1656 – 1755

act of sending away, dispelling, dismissing

Sample sentence:  Tony’s curt amandation of his guests earned him a reputation for being a nasty jerk. 
Phrontistery lists this word as being used for 99 years — from 1656 to 1755. I can’t find it in the OED but it may be related to Amanda: 
fem. proper name, lit. “worthy to be loved,” fem. of L. amandus, ger. of amare “to love” (see Amy).
If so, it’s interesting to note the almost polar differences between the two words. 
UPDATE: A reader, Minnesotastan, pointed me to a much more likely word relation: mandate.  Mandate means “an order” and a means “away” (apathy, atheist, etc) — to order away. Sounds much more likely than any connection to “amanda”.

Archival Kat

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2 responses to “Adopting Words: amandation”

  1. I found “amandation” in my edition of the OED (1971). It’s listed as “Obs[olete]” with an etymology directly from the Latin “amandatioinem” (a sending away). The citations in the OED are the same as the ones you cite.

    I would presume that the derivation of the word is related to “mandate”, which is an order + “a” as an alternative to “ex” meaning “away” = to order away. Not sure about any “amanda” connection.

    Nice design on your blog.

    Minnesotastan

  2. Thank you!

    That makes much more sense than the “amanda” link. I was conjecturing (dangerous, I know). Wish I had a hardcopy of the OED; I have to use the online one. =/

    I updated the post to reflect this information. Thanks again!

    (And I love this design as well. I was hoping for an excuse to use it, and then I moved my writing blog here, so that seems to be reason enough. :))