'government-mandated' is a modern English compound combining 'government' and the past-participle form of 'mandate'. 'Government' entered English from Old French and ultimately from Latin 'gubernare' meaning 'to direct, rule', while 'mandate' comes from Latin 'mandatum', from 'mandare' meaning 'to entrust, command'.

'mandate' developed from Latin 'mandatum' through Old French (e.g. 'mandat') into Middle English 'mandate'; 'government' came via Old French 'governer' from Latin 'gubernare'. The compound form 'government-mandated' is a recent English formation (20th century onward) combining the noun 'government' with the past-participle adjective 'mandated'.

Originally 'mandate' meant 'an order or something entrusted'; over time it came to mean an authoritative order or requirement, and the compound 'government-mandated' specifically denotes something ordered or required by government authority.