primordium Latin · revision 31083

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=220–130 BC, Pacuvius|origins=la prīmus, la ōrdior}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [priːˈmoːr.di.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [priˈmɔr.di.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''prīmōrdium''' ''n'' (genitive prīmōrdiī or prīmōrdī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Lucretius splits it as ''ōrdia prīma''.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|prīmus|t=first]] and ⟨-ordium⟩, as in [[m|la|exōrdium|t=beginning]], from [[m|la|ōrdior|t=to lay the warp, begin]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of ⟨ōrdior⟩, whose first meaning he takes to be a weaving term, the threads laid in order on the loom; he reconstructs [[itc-pro|*ordi-|t=row, arrangement]] and tentatively [[ine-pro|*h₂or-d-]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Pacuvius uses it in the singular: ''quod prīmōrdium capessam'', “what beginning shall I make”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is mostly plural, beginnings, origin or source, as Cicero's “from Jupiter the beginnings of the Muses”, and the singular ''prīmōrdiō'' means “at first”.^(OLD 2012) An inscription uses it of entry into a priestly office.^(OLD 2012) In the plural it is also the first elements or rudiments of a thing (Cicero), and in Lucretius the first bodies, the atoms, from which all things are made.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “origin, beginning”,^(Stelten 1995) and medieval Latin used the plural for the rudiments of a doctrine.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 220–130 BC – Pacuvius in the singular.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the first elements of things.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of origins and rudiments.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' Beginnings, [[m|en|origin]], source, ''prīmōrdiō'', originally.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Entry into an office.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(plural)'' First elements, [[m|en|rudiment|alt=rudiments]], ''(Lucretius)'' the atoms.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[prīmōrdiālis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ōrdior]]

+ * [[exōrdium]]

+ * [[prīmus]]

+ * [[initium]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein sets ''prīmōrdia'', the first beginnings from which a thing develops, beside [[initium]], the mere point where a thing begins.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}