ordinary

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɔː.dən.ər.i/, /ˈɔː.dɪ.nər.i/, US /ˈɔːr.dən.er.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ordinarie, borrowed from Old French ordinarie and directly from Latin ōrdinārius (“customary, regular, orderly”),^[2][3][4] from ōrdō (“row, rank, order”), genitive ōrdinis.^[2][3] The noun came partly through Old French from Medieval Latin ōrdinārius, a judge with jurisdiction of his own.^[5][4] It is related to order.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, a church official with jurisdiction of his own, such as a bishop in his diocese, is from 1292.^[6] The adjective, having authority by ecclesiastical office, is from before 1402, and “regular, usual” from about 1400.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

“Common, not distinguished in any way” is from the 1580s.^[2] The noun had many uses from the late 14th century until the 19th that are now mostly extinct,^[2] such as the chaplain of Newgate prison (1696) and a courier carrying letters at regular intervals (1667).^[6] The noun survives in out of the ordinary (1893), where it means the regular or customary course.^[2] In British education the Ordinary level (O level) of the General Certificate of Education is from 1947.^[2]

Timeline

• 1292 – noun, a church judge.^[6]
• c. 1400 – usual, regular.^[2]
• 1580s – commonplace.^[2]
• 1893 – out of the ordinary.^[2]
• 1947 – Ordinary level.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Usual or normal, not special.
2. Plain and uninteresting; commonplace.
3. (law) Having jurisdiction by right of office.

Noun

1. (church) A bishop or other official with authority in his own right.
2. A meal served at a fixed price, or an inn serving it.
3. (heraldry) One of the simplest and commonest charges on a shield.

Word family

• ordinariness
• ordinarily
• superordinary
• unordinary
• ornery
• ordinary differential equation
• ordinary seaman
• ordinary share

Related words

• order
• extraordinary
• ordinal

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press