ordinaire

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɔʁ.di.nɛʁ/^[1]

Forms

ordinaire (plural ordinaires)^[1] First ordenaire (1260); ordinaire from 1335.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ōrdinārius (“arranged in order; regular, usual”), derived from ōrdō (“order, rank”), the source of ordre.^[3][2][4][5] In Church Latin the word meant a cleric regularly attached to a church and, as a noun, the person holding church jurisdiction over a place, the weekly monk in charge of the refectory or a royal judge.^[3] Wiktionary treats the Old French word as inherited after an early borrowing.^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan ordinari, Italian ordinario and Spanish ordinario.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Livre de Jostice et de Plet (1260) uses ordenaire as a noun for the diocesan church authority.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The noun also named the book containing the ordinary of the Mass (1328).^[2][3] In the 14th century the word became an adjective meaning “in accordance with the normal order” (1348) and described a person who regularly holds an office, as juge ordinaire (1355), already found earlier in Old Occitan.^[3][7][4] From the 15th century it took wider senses: what is usually done (c'est l'ordinaire de, Corneille, 1643), what is normal (Amyot, 1559).^[2][4]

As a noun it also meant one's usual food (1489), the daily ration of oats for horses (1690) and a soldiers' mess (1766), and a regular post leaving and arriving on fixed days (1636).^[2] By extension the adjective came to mean “commonplace, mediocre”, and in Quebec “rude, shabby”.^[1][8]

Timeline

• 1260 – Ordenaire, the diocesan authority.^[2]
• 1328 – The book of the ordinary of the Mass.^[2]
• 1348 – The adjective “normal, usual”.^[3][9]
• 1355 – Juge ordinaire.^[7][3]
• 1489 – The usual food.^[2]
• 1636 – A regular post.^[2]
• 1643 – Corneille: c'est l'ordinaire de.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Normal, usual, ordinary: le cours ordinaire des choses, sa gaieté ordinaire.^[8][1]
2. Average, common, with nothing special: des gens ordinaires, (familiar) c'est pas ordinaire !, that's remarkable.^[8]
3. Mediocre, commonplace.^[1][8]
4. Of a person, regularly holding an office: juge ordinaire.^[3][8]
5. (Quebec) Rude, discourteous.^[1]

Noun

1. L'ordinaire: what is usual, the ordinary: sortir de l'ordinaire, d'ordinaire, usually.^[1][8]
2. Everyday food, (military) the soldiers' mess.^[2][8]
3. (Christianity) The bishop who has jurisdiction in a diocese; the unchanging parts of the Mass.^[2][3]

Word family

• extraordinaire
• ordinairement

Related words

• ordre
• Latin ōrdinārius

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 400a
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert