organizo

Forms

organizō (present infinitive organizāre, perfect active organizāvī, supine organizātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀργανίζω (organízō, “to make music with instruments”).^[2][3][1] The medieval sense “to furnish with organs” was formed anew from organum (“instrument; organ”) with the suffix -izō.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Itala, the Old Latin Bible (after 220 AD), of people playing on instruments and rejoicing (3 Kings 1:40).^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Wiktionary notes the participle organizātus in Boethius.^[1] In the Middle Ages it meant to play the organ and to sing in harmony or polyphony, and in philosophy and medicine to furnish a body with organs or give it its structure;^[3][7] Niermeyer also gives “to contrive, arrange”.^[3][7] A Polish text of 1390 uses it of the body formed and made alive by the soul.^[8]

English took organize around 1400, from this Medieval Latin verb, partly through French, first in medical writing; the general sense of arranging a system came in the 1590s.^[4]

Timeline

• after 220 AD – The Itala uses it for playing on instruments.^[2][6]
• 1390 – A Polish philosophical text uses it of the living body.^[8]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as organisen in medical writing.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Late Latin) To play on an instrument, make music.^[2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) To play the organ.^[7][3]
3. (Medieval Latin, music) To sing in harmony or polyphony.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin, philosophy, medicine) To furnish with organs, give (a body) its structure.^[3][7][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) To contrive, arrange.^[7]

Related words

• organum
• English organize

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl