maniplen.

Etymology: < Middle French maniple (1382 in sense 1a; late 13th cent. in Old French in sense 3a), Middle French, French manipule (1380 in sense 1a, 1478 in sense 3a, 1660 in sense 2a) < classical Latin manipulus handful, bundle, sheaf, unit of infantry < mani- mani- comb. form + a second element < the base of plēre to fill, plēnus full (see pleni- comb. form). Compare Italian †manipulo (12th cent. in sense 1a), manipolo (a1292 in sense 2a, a1375 in sense 1a, 14th cent. in sense 3a). Compare also manipulum in Middle French texts (1345–1503) < post-classical Latin manipulum , accusative singular of manipulus (compare quot. ?c1425 at sense 3a).Sense 1a appears in post-classical Latin in the 8th cent., the cloth probably being so named because it was originally carried in the hand (more elaborate suggestions have been offered): compare the Byzantine Greek use of ancient Greek ἐγχειρίδιον (lit. ‘something held in the hand’: see enchiridion n.) in this sense by 808. Sense 2a is directly < classical Latin military terminology. Sense 3a reflects the specialized use of manipulus in post-classical Latin medical works (from 5th cent.; also in Chauliac); this surprisingly inexact measurement may have originated in the post-classical Latin use of manipulus to mean drachm, by confusion of ancient Greek δραχμή drachm and δράγμα sheaf. Sense 4 is ultimately after post-classical Latin manipulus curatorum, the title of a handbook attributed to Guido de Monte Rocherii and printed frequently from c1475 onwards, in which manipulus is probably after the Hellenistic Greek sense ‘handbook’ of ancient Greek ἐγχειρίδιον.