Maundy

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. The Christian ceremony held on the Thursday before Easter, in which alms are distributed to the poor ; the special silver coins handed out to recipients at that service
2. A royal tradition on the Thursday before Easter of distributing charitable gifts to the needy ; commemorative silver coins that are presented to those receiving these gifts
3. The church observance on the Thursday of Holy Week involving charitable giving to poor people ; the purpose-minted silver coinage traditionally distributed during that observance

Etymology: The Thursday before Easter once belonged to a Latin sentence. In John 13:34, Jesus tells his disciples, "Mandatum novum do vobis," meaning "A new commandment I give unto you," and the phrase became attached to the foot-washing he performed that evening. Medieval churches named the ceremony after its opening words, and that name gave the day its modern title. The word itself travelled through French. Old French "mandée" meant "mandated," and it reached Middle English as "maundee" and "maunde," meaning a command or the act of commanding. By the time the ceremony became a royal custom, with monarchs washing the feet of poor people and handing out alms, the English word was firmly tied to that Thursday. Maundy is a doublet of "mandate," which descends from the same Latin "mandatum." The two words split apart centuries ago: "mandate" kept the sense of an authoritative order, while "maundy" narrowed to a single religious observance and its gifts.