A commissary is someone delegated by a superior to execute a duty or an office; in a formal, legal context, one who has received power from a legitimate superior authority to pass judgment in a certain cause or to take information concerning it.

Word history

The word is recorded in English since 1362, for "one to whom special duty is entrusted by a higher power". It derives from Medieval Latin commissarius, from Latin commissus (pp. of committere) "entrusted,". Originally its use was ecclesiastical, as in Commissary Apostolic or in charge of a Franciscan Commissariat of the Holy Land.

The military sense of "official in charge of supply of food, stores, transport" dates to 1489. A Commissary was an officer of a Commissariat. The word continued to be used in ranks of the supply departments of the British Army until 1888.

Metonymic use

In the United States armed forces and prisons, as well as the United Nations, it has the derived meaning of a store for provisions. Modern commissaries are quite similar to supermarkets, providing members with most of the same available in the U.S. economy regardless of where they are stationed world-wide. Commisaries sell primarily grocery articles; other items can be purchased at a base exchange.

In the US film industry, the word commissary is often used to mean something which is a refectory.

See also

• Commissar
• Commissariat
• Commissioner

Sources and references

(incomplete)

• 
• EtymologyOnLine