"person to whom a mandate has been given, one who receives a command or charge," 1610s, from Late Latin mandatarius "one to whom a charge or commission has been given," from Latin mandatus, past participle of mandare "to order, commit to one's charge" (see mandate (n.)).
Entries linking to mandatary
mandate n.
c. 1500, "a command, a judicial or legal order," from French mandat (15c.) and directly from Latin mandatum "commission, command, order," noun use of neuter past participle of mandare "to order, commit to one's charge," literally "to give into one's hand," probably from manus "hand" (from PIE root *man- (2) "hand") + dare "to give" (from PIE root *do- "to give").
Political sense of "approval supposedly conferred by voters to the policies or slogans advocated by winners of an election" is from 1796. League of Nations sense "commission issued by the League authorizing a selected power to administer and develop a territory for a specified purpose" (also used of the territory so specified) is from 1919.
