section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The English verb manage has its roots in the fifteenth-century French verb mesnager, which often referred in equestrian language "to hold in hand the reins of a horse". Also the Italian term maneggiare (to handle, especially tools or a horse) is possible. In Spanish, manejar can also mean to rule the horses. These three terms derive from the two Latin words manus (hand) and agere (to act).
  
  The French word for housekeeping, ménagerie, derived from ménager ("to keep house"; compare ménage for "household"), also encompasses taking care of domestic animals. Ménagerie is the French translation of Xenophon 's famous book Oeconomicus (Greek: Οἰκονομικός) on household matters and husbandry. The French word mesnagement (or ménagement) influenced the semantic development of the English word management in the 17th and 18th centuries.