manure

When English originally took the word manure over from Anglo-Norman, its connotations of manual labor had been channeled into the management of land, and in particular the cultivation of land. It was not until the middle of the 16th century that the noun manure came to denote "fertilizer made from dung." The related maneuver, reborrowed from French in the 18th century, has remained in more refined use. See also manual.