ordire

Forms

ordire (first-person singular present ordìsco, first-person singular past historic ordìi, past participle ordìto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin ordīre, the active form of Latin ōrdīrī (“to lay the warp; to begin”).^[2][1][3] The Latin verb was first a weaving term.^[4][5][6] The same verb is French ourdir, Occitan ordir, Catalan ordir, Spanish urdir, Portuguese urdir, Sardinian ordire and Romanian urzi.^[2][7]

Its further origin is unclear.^[4] De Vaan takes the original meaning to be “to be put in a certain order”, of threads laid in a pattern, and the verb as either a denominative of a stem *ordi- or a present *ord-ie-; the long ⟨ō⟩ is secondary.^[5] Nocentini puts it in the family of ōrdināre and ōrnāre, from a root Proto-Indo-European *er- (“to fit, join”).^[2] DELI notes that the Romans felt no link with ōrdō (“row, order”), and that it has also been compared with artus (“joint”), armus (“shoulder”) and rītus (“rite”), all traced to a basic sense “joint”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI notes a figurative use by Giordano da Pisa, before 1311, about laying out a sermon.^[4] The weaving sense is first in Cenne da la Chitarra, before 1336: lor moglie tesser tele ed ordir accia (“their wives weave cloth and warp the yarn”).^[4][8][9]

Semantic evolution

The technical sense was common in the wool and silk trades: Siena's wool-guild statutes order weavers to warp each cloth to a fixed length, and orditore, the warper, is recorded between 1298 and 1309.^[8][4] From the loom the verb moved to other plaited work, such as baskets and ropes (1598), and to the timber frame of a building.^[4][9]

Petrarch (1374) uses it for laying out the main lines of a work, and Dante, in the Paradiso, speaks of putting the weft into the cloth he had warped, that is, answering his question.^[4][10] The sense “to plot, scheme” is in Giovanni Villani, before 1348, and is today the most common use outside weaving, in phrases such as ordire una congiura.^[4][10] The Tuscan proverb Chi vuol lavor gentile, ordisca grosso e trami sottile (“whoever wants fine work should warp thick and weave thin”) keeps both senses.^[11] In seamanship ordire a rope is to reeve it through blocks.^[9][12]

Timeline

• 1298–1309 – Orditore “warper” is recorded in the statutes of the Sienese wool guild.^[4]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses the verb of laying out a sermon.^[4]
• Before 1336 – Cenne da la Chitarra uses it for warping yarn.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for “to plot”.^[4]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses it for laying out a work.^[4]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses ordito as a noun, the warp.^[4]
• 1598 – It is used of making baskets and ropes.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (weaving) To warp: to lay the lengthwise threads on the loom.^{[9][12][13][1]}
2. (dated) To plait or weave baskets, ropes and the like; to build a timber framework.^[9][12][13]
3. (figurative) To outline or sketch the main lines of a work: ordire la trama di un racconto.^[9][12][13]
4. (figurative) To plot or scheme in secret: Ordivano un tradimento ai danni del socio.^[9][12][13]
5. (nautical) To reeve a rope through the blocks that guide it.^[9][12][1]

Word family

• ordito
• orditoio
• orditore
• orditura
• ordimento

Related words

• ordine
• trama
• Latin ordior
• French ourdir

Usage notes

Ardisco non ordisco (“I dare, I do not plot”) was a motto of D'Annunzio.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse