Etymologically
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organizo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔr.ɡaˈnɪz.zɔ][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [or.ɡaˈnid.d͡zo][1]

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]

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