ordenación

Forms

ordenación f (plural ordenaciones)^[1] Old Spanish and Aragonese also wrote ordinación, and medieval texts have ordenaçion, hordenaçion and Latinising ordenation.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish ordenar + -ción.^[2][5] The DLE and Wiktionary instead derive it directly from Latin ōrdinātiō (“a setting in order, arrangement”), on which it is modelled.^[6][1] ordenar is the semi-learned continuation of ordinō (“to put in order”), which comes from ōrdō (“order, row”).^[2][7][5]

The Latin noun is formed from the verb with the suffix -tiō.^[8][1] Vitruvius uses it for the arrangement of the parts of a building, rendering Ancient Greek τάξις (táxis), and Medieval Latin used it for the ordination of a priest or a bishop.^[8][9] The same Latin word is Portuguese ordenação, Catalan ordenació and Italian ordinazione.^[10][11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the CDH is the Fueros de Aragón of 1247, in the sense “regulation, ordinance”: algun engenno contra nuestra ordenacion “some trick against our ordinance”.^[4] The Judizios de las estrellas (1254–1260) use it for the arrangement of the planets in the heavens.^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

The prose of Alfonso X already has the main senses: “disposition, provision”, “placing of things in their proper place”, and “command, precept” in the Partidas, where an ordination of priests made against the church's form is declared invalid.^[12] In the astronomical works of 1277 it names a set of lines on an instrument.^[12] The DCECH and the BDELC date the word only from Alonso de Palencia, 1490.^[2][7]

The Diccionario de Autoridades gives “disposition, providence” and “command, precept”, with a quotation that a king's being good or bad is God's ordinance.^[13] The 1884 edition added the ordination of priests, an accounting office as in ordenación de pagos, and senses in architecture and painting.^[14] Alemany in 1917 records ordenación de montes for forestry.^[15] Moliner adds the planning terms ordenación del suelo and ordenación territorial.^[16] In the Americas the word is recorded from 1551 in Guatemala for an ordinance, and in Mexico in 1575 for divine ordinance.^[17]

Timeline

• 1247 – the Aragonese Fueros de Aragón use it for an ordinance.^[4]
• 1254–1260 – the Judizios de las estrellas, for the order of the planets.^[4]
• 1256–1263 – Alfonso X's Primera Partida (in a copy of c. 1290) uses it for the regulation of churches.^[4][12]
• 1277 – the astronomical works of Alfonso X use it for the lines of an instrument.^[12]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia, the first record in the DCECH and the BDELC.^[2][7]
• 1551 – first record in the Americas, in Guatemala.^[17]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives “disposition” and “command”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the ordination of priests and the office of payments.^[14]
• 1917 – Alemany records ordenación de montes.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. Disposition, provision.^[6][12]
2. The act of ordering or of being ordained, especially the ceremony in which a priest is ordained: Su familia asistió a la ordenación del nuevo sacerdote.^[6][18][1]
3. The placing of things where they belong; arrangement.^[6][16]
4. A good arrangement of things.^[6]
5. A rule followed in doing things.^[6]
6. A command, order, precept.^[6][12]
7. An accounting office, as in ordenación de pagos in some ministries.^[6][16]
8. (architecture) The part of architecture dealing with the size each room of a building needs for its purpose.^[6][16]

Related words

• ordenar
• orden
• ordenanza
• ordenamiento
• Latin ōrdinātiō
• Portuguese ordenação

Usage notes

Ordenación de montes or ordenación forestal is the same as dasocracia, forest management.^[6][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 291
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. ordenación
4. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. ordenación
5. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. ordenación
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ordenación
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. orden
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. ordinatio
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ordenação
11. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. ordenació
12. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ordenación
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. vol. 5
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 763
15. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1228
16. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ordenación
17. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. ordenación
18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. ordenación