encomienda

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish encomienda (“grant”).

Noun

encomienda (countable and uncountable, plural encomiendas) (historical)

1. (uncountable) A system in Spain and, later and more extensively, in Spanish colonies, in which the right to exploit the labour of certain groups of subject people (initially, Muslims, during the Reconquista) was granted to conquerors; servitude within this system.
   • 1886, Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft: History of Central America, 1886-1887, page 264:

     Natives voluntarily coming forward and entering in encomienda were excused from paying tribute for ten years; and, in any event, for the first two years after congregating in pueblos but one half the usual tribute could be legally exacted.

2. (countable) A permission to exploit labour within the encomienda system; an enterprise established to exploit such a permission.
   • 1905, Prescott Ford Jernegan, A Short History of the Philippines, D. Appleton, page 84:

     "Most of the owners of encomiendas have stocks in which they keep as prisoners the chiefs or freemen who do not supply the amount of tribute from their slaves when they themselves can not obtain it from the latter."

   • 1963, James Lockhart, Stuart B. Schwartz, Early Latin America: A History of Colonial Spanish America and Brazil, Cambridge University Press, page 96:

     Whereas in the Caribbean it was not at all unheard of for merchants to hold encomiendas or municipal office, in the central areas one had to make a quick choice between appearing as a merchant or vying for an encomienda, for one could not do both.

See also

• encomendero

References

• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “encomienda”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes II (D–Hoon), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC..
• Robert Himmerich y Valencia, The Encomenderos of New Spain, 1521-1555, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991.

Anagrams

• coined name

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /enkoˈmjenda/ [ẽŋ.koˈmjẽn̪.d̪a]
• Rhymes: -enda
• Syllabification: en‧co‧mien‧da

Etymology 1

Deverbal from encomendar

Noun

encomienda f (plural encomiendas)

1. parcel

   Synonym: paquete

2. order
3. encomienda

Derived terms

• encomendero

 

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

encomienda

1. inflection of encomendar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “encomienda”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10