ordre

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɔʁdʁ/^[1]

Forms

ordre m (plural ordres)^[1] Old French also ordene (12th–13th centuries).^[2][3] The word was often feminine until the 17th century, because it begins with a vowel.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ōrdō (“row, rank; order, arrangement; class of citizens”), taken from its oblique forms (accusative “ōrdinem”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin word first named the order of threads in the warp, and is probably related to ōrdior (“to begin a web, lay the warp”) (see ourdir) and ōrnō (“to arrange, adorn”).^[2][6] The inherited form is orne, now a regional farming term for a furrow or row.^[1][6][7]

Compare Italian ordine, Occitan ordre, Spanish orden and Portuguese ordem.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) in the Christian sense of holy orders, the degrees conferred by the sacrament of ordination.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

By about 1135 it named a religious community living under a rule, and in 1155 (Wace) a class of a hierarchical society, les trois ordres, clergy, nobility and third estate, were so called from about 1355.^[9][2] It was used of the military orders of the Crusades (1174), the nine choirs of angels (early 13th century), orders of chivalry (1360) and their insignia (late 14th century).^[9][2]

The abstract sense of succession or arrangement is in Philippe de Thaon (1119), ordre chronologique from 1734, Wace used it of a good arrangement about 1155.^[9][10] After military Latin, ordre meant a command from 1225, with avoir ordre de (1679) and sous les ordres de (18th century), the sense that gave contre-ordre (1680).^[2][3] Ordre public dates from 1725 and maintien de l'ordre from 1776, ordre du jour (1771) and rappeler à l'ordre (1789) are anglicisms.^[2][3][9] Later uses include architecture (1556), a professional body such as the bar (before 1594), and biological classification (1779, Buffon).^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Holy orders, in the Chanson de Roland.^[9]
• 1119 – “Sequence”, in Philippe de Thaon.^[9]
• c. 1135 – A religious order.^[9]
• 1225 – “Command”.^[2]
• c. 1355 – The three orders of society.^[9]
• 1360 – An order of chivalry.^[9]
• 1556 – The orders of architecture, in Philibert de l'Orme.^[9]
• 1680 – Contre-ordre.^[3]
• 1771 – Ordre du jour, after English.^[9][3]
• 1779 – An order in biology, in Buffon.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. order, arrangement, sequence: par ordre alphabétique.^[9][1]
2. Tidiness: mettre de l'ordre, en ordre.^[1][8]
3. Public order, peace: l'ordre public, les forces de l'ordre.^[2][1]
4. A command, instruction: donner un ordre, jusqu'à nouvel ordre.^[1][2]
5. (finance) An order to buy or sell, à l'ordre de: payable to.^[2][1]
6. Kind, category: de premier ordre, du même ordre, de l'ordre de: about, in the region of.^[9][1]
7. A religious or chivalric order; an honour or decoration.^[9][1]
8. A professional body: l'ordre des médecins.^[2]
9. (history) Each of the three estates of the Ancien Régime.^[9]
10. (architecture) A classical order, (biology) an order in classification.^[9][1]
11. Les ordres: holy orders: entrer dans les ordres.^[9]

Word family

• désordre
• contre-ordre
• sous-ordre

Related words

• orne
• ordonner
• ordinaire
• ordination
• ourdir
• orner
• Latin ōrdō
• English order

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 405a
6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse