This week’s theme
Words that aren’t what they appear to be

This week’s words
corroboree
monomachy
verisimilar
polystyle
doctor's mandate


This week’s comments
AWADmail 1212

Next week’s theme
Words with Seattle connections

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(DOK-tuhrz MAN-dayt)

MEANING:

noun: Full authority to deal with a crisis.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin doctor (teacher, later physician), from docere (to teach) + mandate, from Latin mandare (to commission, literally, to give into someone’s hand), from manus (hand) + date, from dare (to give). Earliest documented use: 1931.

NOTES:

A doctor’s mandate sounds like a stern Rx: Take two reforms and call me in the morning. In 1931 in the middle of Great Depression, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald campaigned for a Doctor’s Mandate, asking voters for a free hand to prescribe whatever bitter economic medicine was needed.

With a doctor’s mandate side effects may include austerity, abuse of power, or the occasional economic recovery. A synonym is a blank check. Antonym: insurance pre-approval requirement.

Mandate comes from Latin manus (hand). If it were a surgeon’s mandate, both hands would be in it. The word surgeon is a respelling of chirurgeon, from Greek cheir (hand).

USAGE:

“You can see at the moment that Keir Starmer is trying to win, essentially, a doctor’s mandate.”
Stephen Bush; Labour’s Reversal on Benefits Cap Spells More Contortions to Come; Financial Times (London, UK); Jul 17, 2023.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: