To put a thing forward as worth choosing, while leaving the choice. A recommendation carries the recommender's judgment with it.
Medieval Latin recommendare: re- (again, intensive) + commendare (to entrust, to commit to care), from com- (together) + mandare (to commit, to order); a recommendation entrusts a choice to someone else's judgment without taking the choosing away from them.
To put a thing forward as worth choosing, while leaving the choice itself alone. The root's entrusting is exact: a recommendation carries the recommender's judgment, and hands the deciding to someone else.