Etymologically
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ordre

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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

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