Handling is the way something is dealt with or managed. The handling of the crisis, careful handling, poor handling.
Of a car it means something exact — how it responds to steering and load — and it is judged separately from speed. Handling charges are the fee for processing an order. Note handle beneath it, and that the Old English word already meant this.
1nounhandlingThe way something is dealt with.
“The government's handling of the floods was heavily criticised.”
2nouncarHow a car responds to steering.
“The new model has excellent handling, even on wet mountain roads.”
handling is a way of managing.
Old English handlung comes from handlian, to touch or deal with, from hand.
Old English
handlung — handling
Middle English
handlinge
English, today
handling
From Middle English handlinge, hondlunge, from Old English handlung (“handling”), equivalent to handle + ing. Cognate with Dutch handeling (“trade, operation, action”), German Handlung (“act, action”), Swedish handling (“act, deed, action”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA