English
ordain
Ordain comes from Latin ordinare ‘to order’, and goes back to ordo.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEordo‘order’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEordinare‘to order’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ordiner
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ordeynen
- Englishearliest quotation 1733ordain
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEordo‘order’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEordinare‘to order’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ordiner
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ordeynen
- Englishearliest quotation 1733ordain
Earliest quotation: 1733, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man. […]: “What if the Foot, ordain'd the duſt to tread,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- ‘to fit, to fix, to put together, to slot’
reason, art, ready, rate, article, army, order, artist, arm, ratio, alarm, harmony, armor, arthritis, articulate, anarchy, arithmetic, harmonic, artisan, aristocratic, harmonious, articulation, armament, inertia, inert, armadillo, harmonize, rta, artifice, armature, archon, rime, harmonium, inordinate, arche, 72 more
through Latin ordo ‘order’
ordinary, coordination, coordinate, ornament, subordinate, ornate, ordination, adorn, ordinate, ordinator, ordinal, orn, ordo, 8 more
Today it means
verb To prearrange unalterably.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin ordo / ordain