ordem

Forms

ordem f (plural ordens)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote ordin, ordim, orden, ordem and ordẽ, with the plurals ordĩis, ordees and ordẽes.^[2][3] Ordim survives in popular Portuguese.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ōrdō (“row, line, rank; arrangement”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ordin, Old Galician-Portuguese ordim and Old Galician-Portuguese orden in the oldest texts.^[3][2][1] The Portuguese word continues the Latin accusative.^[1][4] The Latin noun was masculine; the Portuguese word is feminine.^[5][6]

The same Latin word is Galician orde, Spanish orden, Catalan ordre and Italian ordine.^[7][2][1] French kept the inherited word only as French orne, which survives in some dialects as “furrow”.^[8]

The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain.^[9][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *ord-n- (“row, order”) and finds a link with Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to fit together”), the root of artus (“joint”), attractive, though it would need an extension of the root by /d/ that is found nowhere else.^[9][1] The old verb made from the noun was ōrnō (“to equip, adorn”); ōrdinō (“to arrange”), the source of ordenar, is a later formation.^[9] The OLD suggests that the noun was first a weaving term, “a thread on the loom”, related to ōrdior (“to begin”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Testament of King Afonso II of 1214, among the earliest Portuguese documents: aos oméés d'ordin “to the men of the (religious) order”.^[2] A text of 1232 has ordim do espital, the order of the Hospital, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of entering an order (ca en orden log' entrou).^[2] The first records are thus of the religious and military orders.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th and 14th centuries the word is used above all for the religious and military orders (a ordim de Cistelle, a ordem de Santiago, a ordim da caualaria) and for holy orders (ordiis sagradas); entrar en orden meant to take the habit.^[2] The general sense of arrangement and sequence (per ordẽ, contados por ordẽe) is also medieval.^[2][3]

Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) give only Latin ordo and series.^[10][11] Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as the placing of things where they belong, and his synonym dictionary lists preceito, mandado and decreto, the sense of a command.^[12] Folqman (1755) separates the two senses, arrangement and command (executar as ordens de alguém).^[13]

Modern dictionaries add public order and peace, the political and social order, a rank or class, the orders of classical architecture, the taxonomic rank between class and family, and honorary orders.^[3][14][1]

Timeline

• 1214 – aos oméés d'ordin in the Testament of Afonso II.^[2]
• 1232 – ordim do espital, the order of the Hospital.^[2]
• 13th century – orden in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2]
• 1344 – entrou elle em ordem in the Crónica Geral.^[2]
• 1416 – first dated text in the CTA, the Vida de Santo Aleixo Confessor.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders it with Latin ordo and series.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman lists ordem “command” as a separate sense.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. order, arrangement: the way the parts of a whole are placed or follow one another by some principle: ordem alfabética.^[3][14][1]
2. Tidiness; the state of things being in their proper place: pôr a casa em ordem.^[3][14][1]
3. A sequence or row of people, things or events following one another.^[3]
4. discipline, obedience to rules; public peace and tranquillity: manter a ordem.^[3][1]
5. A command or instruction from someone in authority.^[3][16][1]
6. The political and social organisation of a society.^[3]
7. A rank, class or category; a degree of quality: de primeira ordem.^[3][17]
8. A religious or military order; an honorary order and its decoration.^[3][1]
9. (Christianity) The sacrament of holy orders.^[1][18]
10. (architecture) Each of the classical orders of columns: ordem dórica.^[1]
11. (biology) The taxonomic rank below class.^[1][18]
12. (mathematics) The order of a group or of a polynomial.^[1]

Word family

• ordeiro

Related words

• ordenação
• ordenadamente
• ordenado
• ordenador
• ordenamento
• ordenança
• ordenar
• ordenável
• ordenhar
• ordinal
• Latin ordo
• Galician orde
• Spanish orden

Usage notes

As an interjection, Ordem! calls a person or a meeting to order.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. ordem
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ordem
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ordem
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 366
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. orne
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ordem
11. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ordem
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ordem
13. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ordem
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ordem
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. ordem
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ordem
17. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. ordem
18. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. ordem
19. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. ordem