organizatio

Forms

organizātiō f (genitive organizātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin organizō (“to organize”) + -tiō, a Medieval Latin noun of action.^[1][2][3] Its base goes back to organum (“instrument, organ”), borrowed from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates its first record, from Latham's word list of British Medieval Latin, to before 1250.^[2] In the early British examples the DMLBS gives, it is a term of medicine and natural philosophy: the furnishing of a body with its organs and limbs, its physical structure.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The DMLBS also records the sense “assignment of functions to the different organs of a living body”.^[4] Polish philosophical texts of the early 15th century use it in the same way, of providing the body with organs.^[5] English took the word in the early 15th century, first for the structure of the body or its parts.^[3]

In Medieval and New Latin it came to mean the arrangement of parts in general, and in New Latin a body of people joined for a common purpose.^[1] Stelten's dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin glosses it simply as “organization”.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1250 – First recorded in British Medieval Latin, according to Köbler.^[2]
• early 15th century – A Polish philosophical text uses it of the forming of the body with its organs.^[5]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as organisacioun “structure of the body”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) The physical structure of a living body; its being furnished with organs and limbs.^[4][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) The assignment of functions to the different organs of a living body.^[4]
3. (Medieval Latin, New Latin) arrangement, the ordering of parts.^[1]
4. (New Latin) An organization, a body of people united for a common aim.^[1]

Related words

• English organization

Usage notes

Organisātiō is a variant spelling.^[1][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson