Encomendadas

Encomendadas is a feminine plural form used in Portuguese to mean those who have been entrusted or commissioned with a task. It is the feminine participle of the verb encomend ar (to entrust, to commission) and derives from the Latin commendare. As a grammatical form, encomendadas can function as an adjective describing a group, or as a noun phrase referring to the women who have been given a duty or responsibility, for example “as encomendadas para a missão” or “as encomendadas do convento.”

Usage and contexts include historical, legal, ecclesiastical, and literary registers where a person or group is placed under a mandate by an authority. In such texts, the term commonly designates women entrusted with a charge, such as custodians, stewards, or organizers within religious orders, municipalities, or families. The precise meaning depends on the surrounding context and the nature of the entrusted responsibility.

Relation to related terms: the everyday Portuguese counterpart of this sense is often expressed with the verb encargar and its participle encargada, or with the verb encomendar in variations such as encomendado/encomendada. Encomendadas therefore carries a similar semantic field—entrustment or commissioning—but specifically marks feminine plural subjects.

Notes: Encomendadas is primarily a linguistic and stylistic term rather than a fixed institutional designation. Its use may appear in historical documents, genealogies, or ceremonial descriptions, and its frequency varies by genre and period.

See also: encomenda, encomendar, encargada.