extraordinario

Forms

extraordinario (feminine extraordinaria, masculine plural extraordinarios, feminine plural extraordinarias)^[1] Estraordinario is a frequent older spelling, in the Americas from 1528 and in the Quijote.^[2][3][1] Corominas notes the popular forms traurdinario, in Saint Teresa, and trasordinario.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin extraordinārius (“supplementary; out of the usual order”), a learned word.^[4][5][6][1] The Latin adjective was formed from the phrase extrā ōrdinem (“outside the order”), that is from extrā (“outside”) and ōrdō (“order”) with the suffix -ārius.^[7][8] In Latin it was used especially of troops picked for special service.^[8][9] Spanish speakers have felt it as extra- with ordinario.^[1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese extraordinário, Catalan extraordinari, French extraordinaire and Italian straordinario.^[1][10] French borrowed it about 1265.^[11]

The Latin noun has an uncertain origin: de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *ord-n- (“row, order”) and, with a question mark, Proto-Indo-European *h₂or-d-.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's General estoria (1280) uses it of the kings of Babylon who ruled fuera de la orden de los otros reys, outside the line of kings by whose years the histories are reckoned.^[13] The DEMel has pena extraordinaria “a penalty beyond the ordinary” in the Leyes del estilo about 1300.^[14] Corominas dates the word to 1433, in Enrique de Villena.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The first records keep the Latin sense “outside the order or rule”, and accounts of the 16th century use de lo ordinario y estraordinario of regular and additional spending (Santo Domingo 1517, Nicaragua 1528).^[13][2] Autoridades defined it as what is outside the regular and natural order, with quotations from Mariana and Quevedo.^[15] In the Quijote it already means “unusual, rare”, of oaths and penances.^[3][16]

The Academy's 1899 edition has two nouns: an urgent special post, and an extra dish added to the daily meal, used mostly in religious communities.^[17] Today it also means “much better or greater than usual”, and as nouns a special edition of a newspaper, an extra expense and, in the feminine, an extra month's pay.^[6][18][19]

Timeline

• 1280 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses it of kings outside the ordinary list.^[13]
• c. 1300 – pena extraordinaria in the Leyes del estilo.^[14]
• 1433 – Enrique de Villena, the first record Corominas gives.^[4][5]
• 1491 – first text of the HSMS archive with the word.^[20]
• 1517 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, of extra expenses.^[2]
• 18th century – Autoridades defines it as outside the regular order.^[15]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the urgent post and the extra dish.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Outside the natural or usual order or rule; unusual, extraordinary.^[6][1]
2. Added to what is ordinary: una reunión extraordinaria, horas extraordinarias.^[6][18]
3. Much better or greater than usual; outstanding: un cantante extraordinario.^[18][19]

Noun

1. An expense added to the normal budget of a person or household.^[6]
2. A special edition of a newspaper published for an unusual event.^[6][18]
3. A special post sent urgently; an express courier.^[6][17]
4. A dish added to the daily meal.^[6][17]
5. (feminine, extraordinaria) An extra payment of salary, the paga extraordinaria.^[6][18]

Related words

• orden
• ordinario
• extra
• Latin extraordinārius

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
3. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 515
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 291
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. orden
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. extraordinario
7. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. extraordinarius
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 275
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1510
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. extraordinaire
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ōrdō
13. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. extraordinario
14. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 699
16. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1908–1914), Tesoro de la lengua castellana: origen y vida del lenguaje, 12 vols., Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Compañía, p. s.v. extraordinario
17. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 446
18. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. extraordinario
19. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. extraordinario
20. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org