Language Of Confusion: Armed, Part III

Still more words that are from the Proto Indo European ar-, to fit together. If you didn’t think last week was weird enough, here’s more for you.
 
First is order of all words. It showed up in the thirteenth century, but back then it referred specifically to a religious order. A century after that, it started to mean a rank in a community, then after another century a regular sequence, and another century after that it meant a command. It didn’t start to mean a food order until 1836, and a business order a year later. Amusingly enough, in order, as in organizing something, is older than most of these, having shown up in the fifteenth century, while out of order showed up a century after that. And we haven’t even looked at the etymology yet! It’s from the classical Latin ordinem, which meant order, but also a row or line or even the row of threads in a loom, and is from ordo, the noun form of order. That’s from the Proto Italic ordn-, which is from ar-, and I guess to fit together makes sense for things placed in rows, but what a journey.
 
Next, ordinary, which showed up in the fifteenth century from the Old French ordinarie. That’s from the classical Latin ordinarius, which, you know, just ordinary, and that’s also from ordo and ar-. I guess rows are ordinary?
 
Ordinance showed up in the fourteenth century, from the Old French ordenance and Medieval Latin ordinantia. That’s from the classical Latin ordinantem, they order, from the verb ordinare, to organize. And that’s from ordo, of course. Now, ordinance always had the meaning we use it as—decree—but in the fourteenth century, it also meant arrangement in rows, or war provisions or equipment. You know, like an ordnance. Ordnance is literally ordinance without the I, and it took on the meaning ordinance lost and then came to mean artillery.
 
Also related? Ornate. It showed up in the fifteenth century from the classical Latin ornatus, decorated. That’s from the verb ornare, to decorate, which is also from ordo. Ornate things are decorated, or “fitted out”. Ornament is actually older, having shown up in the thirteenth century from the Old French ornement and classical Latin ornamentum, which is just ornament and is from ornare.
 
That’s it for this week, but there are so many more ordo words to go.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Dictionary of Medieval Latin

Language of Confusion: -Ment, Part III

Today’s -ment words are physical objects. That’s almost like a theme that ties them together, because the origins of the words sure as hell won’t.

Cement

Cement showed up in the fourteenth century from the Old French ciment, also cement, and classical Latin caementa, which… yeah, is also just cement. It comes from the verb caedere, to cut down, hew, or hack, evolving from the sense that stones were “hacked” into chips or powder for use in cement. Also, caedere is from the Proto Indo European root kae-id-, origin of words such as decide, precise, and homicide. Okay, I’m going to have to look into that at some point.

Pigment

Pigment showed up in the late fourteenth century from the classical Latin pigmentum, which it’s pretty safe to assume just means pigment. It’s from the verb pingere, to paint, the origin word for paint. Amusingly enough, pingere is from the Proto Indo European peig-, to cut or mark with incision, which evolved to the sense of decorating with cut marks, then just decorate, then decorate with color. Therefore, paint, and pigment.

Ornament

Ornament came about in the early thirteenth century meaning an accessory and not necessarily something decorative. It’s from the Old French ornement and classical Latin ornamentum, which could mean ornament or decoration, but also things like apparatus or kit. It’s from the verb ornare, to adorn, and ordo, which means… order. And yeah, that’s where order comes from.

Garment

Garment showed up in the fifteenth century, although it existed in the fourteenth century as garnement. That was taken from the Old French garnement (so that would explain the spelling), which is from the verb garnir, to fit out or adorn. It’s actually from a Germanic source, not Latin, can you believe it? But it can still be traced back to Proto Indo European, in this case the root word wer-, to cover. Origin of words such as garnish, warn, and cover because things are never weird enough.

Ointment

Ointment appeared in the late thirteenth century from the Old French oignement, which was taken from the Vulgar Latin unguimentum and classical Latin unguentum, perfume or ointment. The verb of that is unguere, to smear with ointment, from the Proto Indo European ongw-, salve or anoint. And yeah, that’s where we get anoint from, as well as unction.

Words are so weird sometimes.

Sources

Online Etymology Dictionary

Google Translate

Omniglot

University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center

University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language

Encyclopaedia Britannica