organ

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɔːɡən/ (UK); /ˈoɹɡən/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is a fusion of late Old English organe (“musical instrument”) and Old French orgene, organe,^[2][3][4] both from Latin organa, the plural of organum, a musical instrument,^[2][3] from Greek ὄργανον (órganon, “tool, instrument; organ of sense or of the body”),^[3][5][6] related to ἔργον (érgon, “work”),^[3][2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *werg- (“to do”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A musical instrument, vaguely, especially a wind instrument: about 1000.^[7][2][5]

Semantic evolution

By the late 14th century the sense narrowed to the instrument of pipes sounded by air from a bellows and worked by keys, the largest, the most complicated, and the noblest of musical instruments (Century Dictionary);^[2] Augustine already knew this sense of Latin organa.^[2] A part of the body adapted to a function is from the late 14th century (1392), from a Medieval Latin sense.^[2][3] A tool or instrument is from the early 15th century, and anything that performs a function from the 1540s.^[2] A means of communication, as a newspaper, is by 1788.^[2] Organic and organize come from the same Greek word.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – a musical instrument.^[7]
• late 14th century – the pipe organ.^[2]
• 1392 – a body organ.^[3]
• early 15th century – a tool.^[2]
• 1788 – a medium of communication.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A part of an animal or plant body adapted for a particular function, such as the heart or liver.
2. A large musical instrument with pipes sounded by compressed air and played with keyboards; a similar electronic instrument.
3. A newspaper or periodical that represents a particular group: the party's official organ.
4. An instrument or means of action: organs of government.

Word family

• interorgan
• multiorgan
• organology
• organelle
• baroque organ
• electric organ
• end organ
• Hammond organ

Related words

• organic
• organize
• organism
• organist
• orgy
• work
• energy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press