610: handsome August 9, 2016

There are many words now like 'manufacture' 'manual' and 'handle' that derive from 'hand', or the Latin word for 'hand', 'manus'. Those words still manage (also from 'manus') to retain some connotation to hands, however. 'Handsome', on the other hand, does not have the same connotation. It comes from the Middle English ('hand' and 'some') in the sense of 'easy to handle'. This later denoted something that was good or desirable, like a handsome sum or money, or a handsome man like we say today.