Etymologically
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ordinance

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 03:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɔːdɪnəns/, /ˈɔːdnəns/[1]
  • US: /ˈoɹdɪnəns/, /ˈoɹdnəns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ordinaunce,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman ordenance, also Old French ordenance (now ordonnance),[5][2][6] a decision made by a superior, recorded in Old French from about 1180.[5] The French noun is formed from ordener (“to put in order”), the source of ordain, and -ance.[5][7] Etymonline, the American Heritage Dictionary and Barnhart also allow a direct borrowing of Medieval Latin ōrdinantia,[2][3][4] which comes from Latin ōrdināns, the present participle of ōrdinō (“to put in order, arrange”), from ōrdō (“row, rank, series, arrangement”), the source of order.[2][3][8] The OED notes that the Medieval Latin word is not recorded before the 14th century and that the usual Latin noun in these senses was ōrdinātiō.[5] The Anglo-Norman word, recorded from about 1285, already covered order and discipline, battle order, machinery, and a decree, including the decree of a guild or town.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

An authoritative decree or arrangement: probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin, according to Barnhart,[4] about 1300 according to Etymonline.[2] The OED's first quotation, from before 1325, is for the decision of a judge or referee that settles a dispute.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word covered many kinds of ordering.[5][2] Besides a decree or command, recorded from about 1330,[5][2] it meant arrangement in ranks, especially battle array,[2][6] preparation and provision (from about 1330),[5][4] and hence military supplies and equipment, a sense first recorded about 1390 in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.[4][2] That last sense was taken over by the shortened form ordnance.[2][4] The religious senses followed: something ordained by God or fate (1340)[5] and a prescribed religious practice, especially a sacrament (before 1400);[5][10] among Baptists the word is used of baptism and communion from 1854.[5] In law an ordinance was narrower in scope or less permanent than a statute;[5][2] in English history it was a regulation issued without the assent of all three of Crown, Lords and Commons,[8] and in modern American use it is above all a city or town regulation.[10][11] Johnson (1755) gave "law; rule; prescript" first.[12]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – decree, orderly arrangement, in Arthour and Merlin.[4]
  • before 1325 – the decision of a judge or referee settling a dispute (obsolete by 1553).[5]
  • c. 1330 – an authoritative direction or decree.[5]
  • c. 1330 – preparation, provision (obsolete by 1612).[5][4]
  • 1340 – something decreed by God or fate.[5]
  • c. 1390 – military supplies, in Chaucer.[4]
  • before 1400 – a religious practice or ceremony, a sacrament.[5]
  • 1440 – verb, to decree or regulate.[5]
  • 1854 – among Baptists, baptism or communion.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A law or regulation made by a government, especially a municipal one: a city ordinance banning fireworks.[10][11][13]
  2. An authoritative decree or command.[10][11][5]
  3. Something ordained by fate or a deity.[11][5]
  4. A custom or practice established by long use.[10][13]
  5. A Christian rite, especially the Eucharist or baptism.[10][5]

Verb

  1. (rare) To decree, regulate or authorize; usually in the passive.[5]

Word family

  • preordinance

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins