commissariat
noun /ˌkɒmɪˈseəriət/
/ˌkɑːmɪˈseriət/
- a department of the army that is responsible for food supplies
- a government department in the Soviet Union before 1946
Word Originlate 16th cent. (as a Scots legal term denoting the area of responsibility of a commissary, often spelled commissariot): from French commissariat, reinforced by medieval Latin commissariatus, both from medieval Latin commissarius ‘person in charge’, from Latin committere ‘entrust’.