mannern.int.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman manere, maner, maneire, maniere manner, kind, conduct (compare Old French maniere (1119), French manière ) < manier , maneir , maner , manner held in the hand, tractable (compare Old French manier held in the hand (c1140), skilful (c1155)) < classical Latin manuārius operated by hand < manus hand (see manus n.¹) + -ārius (compare -er suffix²). With the Anglo-Norman and Old French noun compare Old Occitan maneira (c1180), maniera (13th cent.), Spanish manera (1209; 1152 as maneira ), Portuguese maneira (1192), Italian maniera (a1257), and the post-classical Latin loan maneries kind, class, sort, form, mode (12th–14th centuries in British sources). With the Anglo-Norman and Old French adjective compare Old Occitan manier held in the hand (1218), Italian maniero easy to handle (first half of the 13th cent.), and the post-classical Latin loan manerus accustomed to being handled (13th cent. in British sources). Compare Anglo-Norman and Old French manier to handle (12th cent.), and manage v. The Old French noun has a number of Germanic derivatives (chiefly in senses corresponding to those at branch II.), e.g. Old Frisian manēre, Middle Dutch maniere, meniere (Dutch manier), Middle High German maniere (German Manier), Swedish manér, Danish manér.Senses in each of the three main branches below are attested also for Old French, Middle French, French manière from the 12th cent. onwards. The sense ‘kind or sort’ (see branch I.) is well attested in Old French and Middle French (from c1150), although in modern French sorte or genre are more common in this sense. Plural use in the sense ‘habits, conduct’ (see branch II.) is attested from the late 12th cent.: in modern French manières is used in the sense ‘social behaviour (as deemed good or bad)’, but mœurs is more usual in the sense ‘social habits, customs’, and air , attitude , or other terms in uses corresponding to sense 5. Use in senses corresponding to branch III. are attested early in Old French and persist in modern French (alongside similar use of façon ). The sense development has probably also been influenced considerably by classical Latin modus (especially in senses at branches I. and III., and in senses 15 and 16: compare mode n.) and mōs (especially in senses at branch II.: compare mores n.); the English word became a conventional translation of both Latin words at an early date. Sense 8, which corresponds to Aristotle's use of ἤθη , is influenced by the use of French mœurs and Latin mōrēs in French and post-classical Latin versions of the Poetics (compare also classical Latin mōrēs in Horace Ars Poetica 156, influenced by Aristotle's Poetics). With sense 12 compare Old French, Middle French, French manière style of architecture (1260), style of painting (1538), style of literary composition (1690); Italian maniera style of an artist, of a school (15th cent.).