inordinatus

Forms

inōrdinātus (feminine inōrdināta, neuter inōrdinātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + ōrdinātus (“arranged”), the negative of the participle of ōrdinō (“to arrange”).^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[3] who in his Timaeus says that the god brought the world ex inordinato in ordinem, from disorder into order.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Livy uses it of troops not drawn up in battle order (inordinati in proelium ruunt).^[2][5] Pliny the Elder uses it of leaves or fruit that are not regularly arranged, Celsus of fevers that recur irregularly, and Seneca of impulses that obey no rule.^[2][5] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it in the sense “disordered, irregular”,^[6] and in Medieval Latin it could mean “intestate”.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the neuter for disorder.^[4][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of soldiers not in formation.^[2][3]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus writes of irregular fevers.^[2][3]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca calls the impulses of animals disordered and turbulent.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not regularly arranged, disordered.^[2][4]
2. Of troops: not drawn up in formation.^[2]
3. Occurring irregularly.^[2][5]
4. Not conforming to rule, disorderly.^[2]
5. (neuter as noun) Disorder.^[4][5]
6. (Medieval Latin) Intestate.^[7]

Usage notes

It has two adverbs, inōrdinātē (Celsus) and inōrdinātim (Ammianus), both “irregularly”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill