commando

English

Etymology

From Afrikaans kommando, from Portuguese comando (“command”), from Late Latin *commandare, from Latin commendare.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kəˈmɑːndəʊ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɑːndəʊ
• (US) IPA^(key): /kəˈmændoʊ/
  • Rhymes: -ændəʊ

Noun

commando (plural commandos or commandoes)

1. A small fighting force specially trained for making quick destructive raids against enemy-held areas.
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 89:

     The most important objective was at Batna itself, where a group of three commandos each comprising ten men was to attack Deleplanque's sub-prefecture […] .

2. A commando trooper.

   Synonym: (dated) commandoman

   • 2022 March 8, “Tory MP’s son among UK ex-servicemen heading to Ukrainian front line”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:

     Ben Grant, 30, who spent more than five years as a commando in the Royal Marines, is part of group of seven ex-servicemen who arrived in Ukraine over the weekend to fight invading Russian forces.

4. (historical) An organized force of Boer troops in South Africa; a raid by such troops.

Derived terms

• commando cloth
• commandolike
• commandoman
• go commando
• steak commando

Descendants

• → Dutch: commando
• → Greek: κομάντο (kománto)

Translations

small fighting force

• Bulgarian: отряд (bg) m (otrjad), команда (bg) f (komanda)
• Catalan: comando (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 特种兵 (zh) (tèzhǒngbīng)

• Czech: komando n
• Dutch: commando (nl) m
• Esperanto: kommando (eo)
• Finnish: sissipartio
• French: commando (fr) m
• German: Kommando (de) n
• Greek: δύναμη καταδρομών f (dýnami katadromón)
• Indonesian: komando (id)
• Japanese: 特戦隊 (tokusentai)
• Māori: konihi, torohē, whakatoke
• Marathi: कमांडो (kamāṇḍo)
• Persian: کماندو (fa) (komândo)
• Polish: komando (pl) n
• Spanish: comando (es) m, escuadrón tipo comando m
• Swedish: kommandostyrka c
• Turkish: komando (tr)

commando trooper

• Apache:

  Western Apache: yaaʼ tú silááda

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 特种兵 (zh) (tèzhǒngbīng)

• Esperanto: kommandano
• Finnish: sissi (fi)
• German: Kommandosoldat m
• Greek: κομάντο (el) m (kománto), καταδρομέας (el) m (katadroméas)
• Māori: hōia torohē, hōia konihi
• Marathi: कमांडो (kamāṇḍo)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kommandosoldat m

  Nynorsk: kommandosoldat m

• Polish: komandos (pl) m, komandoska f
• Spanish: tropa tipo comando f
• Swedish: kommandosoldat c
• Turkish: komando (tr)

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔˈmɑn.doː/, /koːˈmɑn.doː/
• Hyphenation: com‧man‧do

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish comando.

Noun

commando n (plural commando's, no diminutive)

1. military command [from 17th c.]

   Synonym: bevel

2. order, imperative (especially in relation to the military or animal training) [from 17th c.]

   Synonym: bevel

3. unit or division over whom an officer has command [from 17th c.]

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English commando, from Afrikaans kommando, from Portuguese comando.

Noun

commando m (plural commando's, no diminutive)

1. commando, special forces unit [from 20th c.]
2. commando, member of a special forces unit [from mid 20th c.]

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.mɑ̃.do/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

commando m (plural commandos)

1. commando (troop, trooper)

Descendants

• → Turkish: komando

Further reading

• “commando”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /komˈman.do/
• Rhymes: -ando
• Hyphenation: com‧màn‧do

Noun

commando m (plural commandi)

1. commando (troop)

Latin

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm

Proto-Italic *kom

Proto-Italic *kom-

Latin con-

Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂-der.

Proto-Italic *manus

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tder.

Proto-Italic *-ðō

Proto-Italic *manuðō

Latin mandō

Latin commendō

▲

Latin mandōinflu.

Latin commandō

Reflection of commendō based on the unprefixed counterpart mandō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kɔmˈman.doː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [komˈman.do]

Verb

commandō (present infinitive commandāre); first conjugation, no perfect or supine stems

1. alternative form of commendō
   • 2nd century CE, Velius Longus, De Orthographia:

     ...et quamvis commendo dicamus tamen commando in consuetudine est.

     ...and although we may say commendo, commando is still in use.

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: cumãndu, cumãndari
  • Romanian: comânda, cumânda
• Italo-Romance:
  • Dalmatian: comanduar
  • Italian: comandare
    • → Spanish: comandar
  • Neapolitan: commannare
  • Sicilian: cumannari, cumandari
    • → Maltese: kkmanda
• North Italian:
  • Emilian: cmandèr
  • Friulian: comandâ
  • Ladin: cumander
  • Romansh: commander
  • Venetan: comandar
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: comander, cumander, conmander
    • Middle French: commander
      • French: commander
        • Haitian Creole: kòmande
        • → Northern Kurdish: komandar
        • → Portuguese: comandar
        • → Romanian: comanda
    • Norman: c'mander (Jèrriais)
    • → Middle English: comaunden, comanden, commaunden, commanden, comaunde, comande, commaunde
      • English: command
      • Scots: command
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: comanar ⇒ encomanar, recomanar
  • Occitan: comandar
    • →? Catalan: comandar

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm

Proto-Italic *kom

Proto-Italic *kom-

Latin con-

Latin mandō

Latin commandō

From con- + mandō.

Verb

commandō (present infinitive commandere, perfect active commandī, supine commānsum); third conjugation (Late Latin)

1. to chew

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “commendare”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2: C Q K, page 948

Further reading

• “commando”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Noun

commando m (plural commandos)

1. obsolete spelling of comando

Verb

commando

1. obsolete spelling of comando

Etymology 2

Verb

commando

1. first-person singular present indicative of commandar